Abington is trying to break its 2028 contract with Flock amid data concerns, police chief says
A second contract with Flock that cost $9,225 per year for two years expired last month.
Abington Township is trying to exit its Flock Safety agreement early for breach of contract over data leaks, Police Chief Patrick Molloy said at a recent meeting, as officials implement a new surveillance system and draft new policies for the replacement system.
The township board of commissioners approved a contract for Axon cameras at its regular meeting on Aug. 27 that would replace the Flock system, which police say helped solve crimes but were rife with unexpected data security issues.
The Flock cameras, known as automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, can collect not only plate numbers but also details about vehicles and driving habits. Police can search the footage to track a specific car across time and jurisdictions, which Abington officials say helps to solve missing persons, theft, and other cases.
The Flock contracts are currently under review at the township solicitor’s office, Molloy said Tuesday. Abington still has a Flock camera turned on in the township, Molloy said, because it is in use for an active investigation.
Abington is trying to exit its contract with Flock early
Now the township is exploring ways to exit its remaining Flock contract early, officials said at the meeting. The three-year agreement, which costs $10,500 annually, would otherwise end in 2028.
A second contract with Flock that cost $9,225 per year for two years expired last month.
The township’s solicitors did not return requests for comment on the plans.
Lt. Joe Blei previously indicated that the department’s Flock data were shared in ways Abington police had not expected. While Abington thought the township would retain sole discretion over its data, search logs from Abington police were released via public records requests to a police department in Illinois.
Flock’s current terms allow customers to cancel if the company “defaults in performance of any material provision of the Agreement” and does not solve the issue within 30 days.
The new system the township approved last month from Axon keeps data in a server that only the township has access to, officials said at the meeting, and prevents external agencies from duplicating Abington’s data.
Abington police can access the server via evidence.com, the same website police use to access body-camera footage, officers said.
Axon logs are also audited by external bodies, and the results of those audits will be made available to the commissioners for review, police said.
Abington is implementing new policies for surveillance cameras
The police department is implementing new policies of its own for the automated license plate reader systems, including scheduled audits of officer searches and a 30-day retention period for data that are not part of a criminal investigation.
The 30-day period is longer than the new default period of seven days that Flock recently adopted, and the 48 hours recommended by the ACLU.
But Molloy said that his department needs the extra time in order to make sure officers can gather all of the relevant data once a criminal investigation is opened.
Abington accesses the data only for criminal investigations, and would allow external agencies, such as the federal government, to access Abington’s data only for crimes and not for civil offenses such as immigration violations, officials have said.
Molloy said after August’s commissioners meeting that the policy also applies to fusion centers like the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center.
The center, which shares information and intelligence among local police, federal agencies, and private companies, has a broad law enforcement remit, including monitoring social media for what it views as potential domestic terror threats, such as anti-data center sentiment.
Police at the meeting reiterated that ALPR systems are useful in solving crimes. Abington used the Flock cameras to help solve a string of robberies that officials said involved a theft ring using Wi-Fi jammers and hidden cameras to burglarize 13 homes in Pennsylvania, Molloy said.
“It’s probably one of the most effective tools that I’ve seen in my whole 30-year career,” Molloy said.
Inquirer Greater Abington
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
