A Flock Safety camera topped by a solar panel logs license plates and vehicle information from eastbound traffic on Young Street in front of Dallas City Hall in downtown Dallas on July 29, 2026.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
5:35 p.m., Aug. 17, 2026: This story was revised after its initial publication to include comment from Flock Safety.
Dallas police are not planning to change the department’s retention schedule of one year for Flock camera data — generally an outlier but in line with some big cities — even as the Atlanta-based tech company is now reducing its recommended default from 30 days to seven.
The Dallas Police Department uses a longer retention period because they say investigators need more time to examine data in lengthy cases, identify patterns across serial offenses and pursue vehicles identified later in an investigation.
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Flock Safety, whose vast network of roadside cameras has drawn national scrutiny in recent months, said last week it would also require users to provide certain information when conducting searches and broadly roll out an audit tool designed to flag suspicious searches by officers. The company said the changes are intended to “strengthen privacy, accountability and security.”
The updates could tighten oversight of a system Dallas police describe as critical to homicide investigations, searches for missing people and other cases. The city has more than 670 cameras across the city. The City Council approved a three-year, $5.7 million contract with the company in May 2025.
Related: Flock cameras roil Republicans and Democrats in North Texas
Flock’s new requirement to adopt the company-built audit tool doesn’t currently work for the department because it doesn’t account for Dallas’ one-year data retention period, said Sgt. Adam Reinhart, who oversees the department’s use of the technology. He said it appeared designed for the previous default of 30 days.
Paris Lewbel, a Flock spokesperson, said the flags could be because the same license plate is being searched repeatedly over a period longer than 30 days. The company recognizes each agency has different operational needs, he said, adding “feedback from agencies like Dallas PD can help us continue improving the tool.”
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The department’s current auditing process is cumbersome: A single week of searches can generate roughly 18,000 rows of data — too many to review manually, Reinhart said. His team instead exports the data and uses formulas to flag possible errors, a process he said the department is still working to refine.
There have been no investigations or incidents of misuse by Dallas officers using Flock, according to Allison Hudson, a department spokesperson.
Reinhart said Dallas police were reviewing Flock’s changes and had sought clarity from the company about parts of the announcement. The department was not considering changing its data retention period, he said.
Some of Flock’s changes would make previously optional safeguards mandatory. The company launched its audit assistance tool earlier this year, and departments have had the option to require officers to enter a case number before conducting a search.
Reinhart said Dallas has required case numbers for roughly a year.
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Elsewhere in North Texas: ‘Privacy isn’t optional’ Hood County constable unplugs, covers Flock cameras
Among the changes detailed by Flock is what the company calls “offense filtering for sharing,” which would allow departments to allow certain searches by outside agencies while blocking some.
Under the new controls, a city could allow another city to search its cameras in cases involving stolen vehicles, missing people or violent crime while blocking searches related to immigration enforcement.
“This gives communities more control over data sharing while preserving collaboration where policies align,” the company’s post on the changes reads.
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Dallas police leaders were discussing the feature and whether to block immigration-related searches, Hudson said Monday, but no decision has been made.