Explainer
How long do Flock cameras keep data?
Short answer: the camera doesn't decide — the contract does. Flock Safety says its default is now seven days for new law enforcement customers, but plenty of existing agreements keep records for 30 days or longer.
The short answer
Retention is set per agency, in the contract and the department policy — not by the hardware on the pole. In August 2026 Flock Safety said it was lowering its recommended default retention to seven days and making misuse detection mandatory for customers; in September the company said that seven-day default applies to new law enforcement customers, while private-sector customers keep control of their own retention settings. Those are the company's statements about its own product. Agencies can configure different periods, some states cap retention by law, and older agreements commonly specify 30 days or more.
If you want the number for a specific place, we publish it on the town page whenever we hold the document that proves it — and we say so plainly when we don't.
How long do Flock cameras keep license plate data?
It depends on the agency, not the camera. Flock Safety said in August 2026 that it was cutting its recommended default retention to seven days; the company later said that seven-day default applies to new law enforcement customers, while private-sector customers keep control of their own retention settings. Many existing agency contracts still specify 30 days or longer, and some states set their own maximum by law. The only reliable answer for a specific town is that town's contract and policy.
Did Flock change its retention policy?
Flock Safety announced changes in August 2026 that it described as cutting default data retention to seven days and making misuse detection mandatory for customers. Those are the company's descriptions of its own policy. A default is not a legal limit: agencies can generally configure a different retention period, and existing agreements do not rewrite themselves.
What is actually stored?
Typically a still image of the passing vehicle, a machine-read version of the plate characters, a timestamp, and the camera location. Many systems also store vehicle attributes such as color, body type and visible damage. Stored together over time, those records describe where a vehicle has been.
Does deleted mean deleted?
Not always in the way people assume. Records exported into a case file, shared with another agency, or pulled into a separate data set can outlive the retention window on the original system. Reporting in 2026 raised questions about data derived from agency cameras being retained separately; where the company and reporters disagree, read both and check your own agency's agreement.
How do I find my town's retention period?
Look for four documents: the vendor contract, the department's ALPR policy, the council or board minutes approving the program, and any audit log policy. If they are not posted, a public-records request usually produces them. When we have those documents for a community, we publish the retention period on that town's page and link the source.
Where to look next
- Flock Files — the contracts, retention schedules and policies we have transcribed.
- Find Flock cameras near you — search your town and see what is documented there.
- What the Flock Is This? — what an ALPR records, in plain English.
- Latest Flockery — retention and policy changes as they are reported.
Sources
- Flock Safety — Updates to privacy, accountability, security and transparency (Aug 13, 2026) ↗
- Flock Safety — What the privacy and security updates mean for private sector customers (Sept 1, 2026) ↗
- Police1 — Flock sets 7-day default for ALPR data, adds mandatory misuse safeguards (Aug 14, 2026) ↗
- USA TODAY — Flock Safety changes data retention default to 7 days amid backlash (Aug 14, 2026) ↗
Claims Flock Safety makes about its own policies are attributed to Flock Safety. Where reporting and the company disagree, we link both. Absence of a record here is not proof that no cameras exist.