Reports of Flock Safety Misuse Force Officers to Show Breakup Receipts Before Looking Up an Ex’s Car

The newly established Interstate Vehicle Query Review Office has begun mailing Flock Safety requests involving an ex back to departments unless each packet contains a breakup receipt. The change follows reports alleging that some law enforcement officers used the network to stalk or harass former romantic partners, and CEO Garrett Langley apologized, saying the company “got this one wrong,” as Flock Safety rolls out policy changes.

The paperwork gets personal

The receipt must list the date the relationship ended, the last message sent, and whether the requester still has “one hoodie, one key, or one unresolved point.” Applications are returned if the requester circles “public safety” but leaves the emotional section blank.

A license plate is not a closure plan. If you need to know where someone is because they stopped answering, that is not an investigative purpose; that is a feeling with access privileges.

Mara Venn, deputy registrar of the Interstate Vehicle Query Review Office

The office rejected its first packet after a department submitted a receipt from a sandwich shop, apparently hoping “buy one, get one” would establish a continuing relationship. Reviewers mailed it back with the purchase stamped “not sufficient grounds for surveillance.”

Since then, vehicle-search requests have arrived folded into apology letters, wedding invitations, and one twelve-page account of a shared cat. The office has approved only those accompanied by a signed statement from a neutral third party confirming that the requester is looking for a car, not an answer.