Georgia man sues Flock, sheriff's office over alleged ALPR-fueled retaliation

A small-business owner in Georgia has sued Flock and the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office over alleged retaliation using license plate cameras. “[The lawsuit] alleges illegal [license plate tracking] searches over many months without probable cause and unrelated to any specific investigation,” Hall & Lampros, attorneys for plaintiff Tyler Murkerson, wrote in a press release. “The lawsuit alleges that Flock also failed to put safeguards in place to prevent illegal surveillance by officers by accepting free-text-field entries instead of specific case numbers or investigations.”

佐治亚州的一位小企业主起诉了 Flock 公司和考维塔县治安官办公室，指控他们利用车牌识别摄像头进行报复。原告泰勒·默克森（Tyler Murkerson）的代理律师事务所 Hall & Lampros 在新闻稿中写道：“（该诉讼）指控在长达数月的时间里，在没有正当理由且与任何具体调查无关的情况下，进行了非法的（车牌追踪）搜索。诉讼还指控 Flock 公司未能建立保障措施来防止警员进行非法监控，因为它接受自由文本字段输入，而非要求提供具体的案件编号或调查信息。”

Murkerson’s saga began in February 2023, when he was arrested by sheriff’s deputies over an alleged seatbelt violation; those charges were dropped months later. In September 2024, Murkerson sued the department, accusing them of excessive force. The case was only recently settled. While that lawsuit was pending, Murkerson says his car’s license plate was searched multiple times in the Flock system. Additionally, he alleges that deputies followed or monitored him as he drove to and from his home. His attorneys claim that, when searching for Murkerson’s vehicle, sheriff’s deputies entered nonsense rationales. This has been a widely reported weakness of the Flock system.

默克森的遭遇始于 2023 年 2 月，当时他因涉嫌违反安全带规定被治安官副手逮捕；几个月后，这些指控被撤销。2024 年 9 月，默克森起诉了该部门，指控其过度使用武力。该案直到最近才达成和解。在诉讼进行期间，默克森称他的车牌在 Flock 系统中被多次搜索。此外，他指控副手在他往返住所时对他进行跟踪或监控。他的律师声称，在搜索默克森的车辆时，治安官副手输入了毫无意义的理由。这已成为 Flock 系统被广泛报道的一个弱点。

“Throughout the relevant period Flock’s platform required only that some text be entered in a free-form field, and it accepted whatever was typed—‘investigation’ and, on twenty separate occasions at one department, ‘hehehe,’” the October 8 complaint states. “The only justifications entered for the searches of Mr. Murkerson’s vehicle were ‘info’ and ‘37.’ Neither corresponds to any investigation, case, incident, or call for service. A search recorded that way documents no investigation. It documents only that someone typed something. Flock has since conceded, by its own conduct, that its platform should have required a verifiable law enforcement justification before executing a search.”

10 月 8 日的起诉书指出：“在相关期间，Flock 的平台仅要求在自由格式字段中输入一些文本，并且接受任何输入的内容——例如‘调查’，甚至在某部门的 20 次不同搜索中输入了‘呵呵呵’。对默克森先生车辆进行搜索时输入的唯一理由是‘信息’和‘37’。两者均不对应任何调查、案件、事件或服务请求。以这种方式记录的搜索无法证明任何调查，它只能证明有人输入了某些内容。Flock 此后通过其自身行为承认，其平台在执行搜索前本应要求提供可核实的执法理由。”

In August 2026, Flock announced it would change its software and require “case codes for all law enforcement searches by the end of the year” as a way to mitigate these abuses. The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office began its own audit of the system that same month, and the complaint notes that “three employees had resigned before the audit was completed.”

2026 年 8 月，Flock 宣布将更改其软件，并要求“在年底前对所有执法搜索提供案件代码”，以此作为减轻此类滥用行为的一种方式。考维塔县治安官办公室在同月开始对该系统进行内部审计，起诉书指出，“在审计完成之前，已有三名员工辞职”。

“What’s really troubling is when that type of surveillance is available, so that the police can do Fourth Amendment-implicated searches without any controls,” Chris Hall, one of Murkerson’s attorneys, told Ars. “For us, it’s not the privacy of taking photographs of your license plate. This is focused on illegal activity and what we allege is that they did violate Georgia law and violate the Fourth Amendment—because it’s a search and surveillance put on somebody.”

默克森的律师之一克里斯·霍尔（Chris Hall）告诉 Ars：“真正令人不安的是，当这种监控手段可用时，警方可以在没有任何控制的情况下进行涉及第四修正案的搜索。对我们来说，这不仅仅是拍摄车牌的隐私问题。重点在于非法活动，我们指控他们违反了佐治亚州法律和第四修正案，因为这是针对个人的搜索和监控。”

Flock has been under increased scrutiny, with hundreds of law enforcement agencies dropping the company recently, largely because of a backlash over overbroad and unwanted surveillance. Brian Hofer, the chair of Secure Justice, a California-based organization that has scrutinized the use of Flock and other surveillance technologies, said he’s unaware of another lawsuit of this type. But, he added, it matters what agencies actually do compared to what they say they do. “Over the years, a number of law enforcement agents have told me that ‘culture eats policy for lunch,’” he emailed Ars. “I think this lawsuit is another example of why guardrails don’t work, analogous to the Trump administration disregarding court orders and the law in general. The remedy is to prohibit use of the technology, at least until the culture of policing changes for the better.”

Flock 正面临越来越多的审查，最近有数百家执法机构放弃了该公司，这主要是由于对其过度和不必要的监控所引发的强烈抵制。总部位于加州的 Secure Justice 组织主席布莱恩·霍弗（Brian Hofer）一直对 Flock 及其他监控技术的使用进行审查，他表示自己不知道还有其他此类诉讼。但他补充说，机构实际所做的与他们声称所做的相比更为重要。他在给 Ars 的电子邮件中写道：“多年来，许多执法人员告诉我，‘文化会吞噬政策’。我认为这起诉讼是护栏为何无效的又一个例子，类似于特朗普政府无视法院命令和法律。补救措施是禁止使用该技术，至少在警务文化好转之前是这样。”

Flock responded to our request for comment with a short statement. “Flock stands by the integrity of its technology and the important role it plays in helping law enforcement solve crimes, find missing people, and keep communities safe,” a spokesperson said. “We disagree with the claims raised in this lawsuit and intend to vigorously defend our position in court.” Coweta County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment.

Flock 回应了我们的置评请求，发表了一份简短声明。一位发言人表示：“Flock 坚持其技术的完整性，以及它在帮助执法部门破案、寻找失踪人员和保障社区安全方面所发挥的重要作用。我们不同意本诉讼中提出的指控，并打算在法庭上积极捍卫我们的立场。”考维塔县治安官办公室没有立即回应 Ars 的置评请求。