Home Depot, Lowe's using Flock Safety

Home Depot and Lowe’s have been using Flock Safety automated license-plate reader systems at some stores, according to reporting published on July 9 and earlier records reviewed by other outlets. The systems capture license plates and other vehicle details in store parking lots and can make that information available to law enforcement for investigations, including retail theft cases. TheStreet said the retailers use Flock Safety at select stores, while prior reporting from Dayton Daily News, WRAL and 404 Media tied the systems to stores in Ohio and to law-enforcement access requests in North Carolina. Flock Safety markets license-plate reader technology to law enforcement as a tool for identifying suspect vehicles, linking cases and coordinating across jurisdictions. The company says its FlockOS platform combines alerts from license-plate readers, video and other systems for police users. Privacy and civil-liberties groups have said the same network can widen government access to vehicle-location data gathered first by private businesses. (thestreet.com) ### Which stores are involved, and where has the use been documented? TheStreet reported on July 9 that both Home Depot and Lowe’s have been using Flock Safety at select stores. The article did not list a full national store count, but it cited use at retailer locations in Ohio and referred to broader police access to data from hundreds of cameras, based on earlier 404 Media reporting. (flocksafety.com) The Dayton Daily News, in a June 12 report carried by Government Technology, said Lowe’s stores across southwest Ohio had automated license-plate readers and that some nearby Home Depot stores did as well. Records of Flock shared networks reviewed by that outlet indicated that Lowe’s and Home Depot stores in the state provided at least some local police agencies with access to their ALPR databases. (thestreet.com) ### What data do the cameras collect? Flock Safety cameras log license plate numbers and also capture vehicle attributes such as make, model, color and other identifying markers, according to TheStreet’s July 9 report, which cited prior descriptions of the system. The American Prospect reported in May that cameras installed in both companies’ parking lots take pictures of vehicles as they pass and place those images into a searchable database police officers can use to determine where a car was and when. (govtech.com) Civil-rights advocates have focused on the precision of the images and the breadth of downstream access. Gideon Epstein, policy counsel for the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, told The American Prospect that audit data from 2025 showed “literally hundreds of searches” by police officers for immigration-related matters. (thestreet.com) ### How are police using the information? North Carolina’s State Bureau of Investigation said in a June statement that retail license-plate information is used to combat organized retail theft and human trafficking. WRAL reported that the SBI gained access to Lowe’s Home Improvement cameras in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia after an August 2025 request, while emails reviewed by WRAL did not show whether a separate request for access to Home Depot cameras was granted. (prospect.org) The SBI said merchandise worth millions of dollars had been recovered in part using license-plate information from retail merchants. WRAL also reported that Garner Police identified and recovered 144 stolen vehicles and that a missing Orange County woman was found in South Carolina after the system flagged a plate, though it noted those agencies were already online before the SBI-directed pilot program. (wral.com) ### Why are privacy groups and some investors objecting? May shareholder meetings at Home Depot and Lowe’s included proposals calling for new reports on privacy risks tied to data sharing and automated license-plate readers, according to Government Technology. Both proposals were voted down. Casey Hudek, speaking for the AFL-CIO reserve fund in favor of a Lowe’s privacy report, said the company voluntarily shares ALPR data with various law-enforcement agencies and warned some customers could be reluctant to shop there if they feared profiling. (wral.com) Christina Méndez, executive director of the Dayton Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, told the Dayton Daily News that companies need to show clearly how they use the data, how they access it and what they do to protect the public’s rights. The ACLU of Ohio’s legislative director, quoted by TheStreet, said the group was worried about “unregulated and unfettered access” by government and law enforcement to data obtained first from non-government sources. (govtech.com) ### What happens next? North Carolina law requires the SBI to submit an annual report to the state legislature documenting outcomes from its license-plate reader pilot program, WRAL reported. California court filings and shareholder records are also likely to remain points of scrutiny: recent proposed class actions have accused Home Depot and Lowe’s of using Flock cameras at California stores without privacy disclosures that plaintiffs say state law requires. (govtech.com) (wral.com)