Documented Incident
Records show 631 immigration-related searches of Twin Falls ALPR network; city later ended national sharing
Event: May 3, 2026 · First reported: August 11, 2026 · 1 source
Public records obtained by the activist group DeFlock Idaho show that outside police agencies ran at least 631 immigration-related searches touching the Twin Falls Police Department's Flock license plate reader network across March, May and June of 2026, with search reasons logged as "immigration," "civil/administrative" or "I.C.E." Requesting agencies included the Indiana State Police, Lawrenceville Police in Georgia, Florida's Bay County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. Twin Falls Lt. Steven Gassert said the searches did not produce data pulls from his agency, but that any matching plate would have been shared automatically. The department cancelled its participation in Flock's national lookup on July 22, roughly a month after the searches were logged.
The episode illustrates how reciprocal national ALPR lookups can route around state statutes and local department policies that a community believed were binding. It also raises the question of who is accountable when an out-of-state agency queries local cameras for a purpose the host jurisdiction prohibits.
Key facts
- Records obtained by DeFlock Idaho document at least 631 immigration-related searches involving Twin Falls ALPR data in March, May and June 2026.
- Idaho Code 49-1432 limits ALPR searches to felony and misdemeanor investigations, traffic accidents, and missing or endangered persons; Twin Falls also lists a policy barring immigration enforcement queries in Flock's Transparency Portal.
- Lt. Steven Gassert said no Twin Falls data was actually returned in those searches, but matches would have been forwarded automatically without manual local review.
- Twin Falls ended participation in Flock's national lookup on July 22, 2026; Gassert attributed the change to ongoing program review rather than these specific searches.
- Gassert said the department receives weekly access requests from the FBI and immigration authorities and denies them; the Idaho Attorney General's Office could not be reached on whether the out-of-state searches violated Idaho law.
Sources
This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.
- Immigration searches were conducted on Twin Falls Flock network. A month later, agreements changed. (Idaho Capital Sun, August 11, 2026)
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About this record
BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.
Updated August 11, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.