A federal judge in the Northern District of Oklahoma has ruled that a Tulsa County sheriff’s deputy violated the Fourth Amendment by conducting a warrantless search of historical vehicle-location data through Flock Safety’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) network, according to TechCrunch and Yahoo News.
The Ruling
In United States v. Melisa Susan Kyle, U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill found that a deputy searched Flock Safety and VehicleManager systems without a warrant after noticing the defendant’s out-of-state plates, retrieving more than 50 location records spanning roughly a month of travel across multiple states. Judge Hill described the platform as “a tool that collects information about all vehicles that pass by any network-connected camera at all times, and it serves up the information to law enforcement on demand,” calling the practice “a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance.” She ordered evidence obtained after the search, reportedly including a subsequent discovery of narcotics, suppressed.
Limited but Notable Precedent
The decision binds only federal courts within Oklahoma’s jurisdiction and conflicts with the Fifth Circuit’s earlier ruling in United States v. Porter, which found ALPR use did not constitute a Fourth Amendment search. Still, it is among the first federal rulings to find a Flock Safety database query unconstitutional, as the company faces mounting scrutiny over data retention and warrantless access by law enforcement nationwide.
Flock Safety has not been named as a party in the case, and the ruling does not address the company’s broader network or policies directly. More video surveillance developments are tracked in the SectechMedia Technology News archive.
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