GRANDVIEW — Grandview’s mayor recently stated that the city does not share its Flock camera system data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to state law limitations. However, researchers from the University of Washington have raised questions about potential federal access to this data.
The Flock camera system is used by police departments across the nation to locate stolen vehicles and solve crimes. City leaders in Grandview emphasize that the cameras have aided in major case resolutions and assert that they do not collaborate with ICE for civil immigration enforcement.
A report from the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights examined audit logs from Flock Safety Systems statewide. It found that during the summer of 2025, federal immigration agencies accessed several local networks. The researchers noted that this access was facilitated through Flock’s nationwide lookup feature, allowing law enforcement agencies to search a large database compiled from local police department data.
“We did not find evidence that Grandview had shared its network directly with US Border Patrol or Homeland Security Investigations, but we still found that those federal immigration enforcement agencies were doing searches that touched the Grandview network as a result of flock’s National look up,” according to researcher Phil Neff, with the the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights.
The nationwide lookup option is a single system setting that cities might activate unknowingly, resulting in unexpected data access. Neff said, “A lot of agencies, when we, you know, published the report when we shared the report and said, actually, we didn’t realize this was happening.”
Grandview claims it maintains control over its data with safeguards to prevent misuse, but the report argues these measures are limited. Audit logs often fail to clarify the reasons for searches, raising concerns about transparency, privacy and community trust.
Flock has since terminated a pilot program that allowed federal immigration agencies access to its systems. Researchers emphasize the importance of oversight to ensure cities are aware of who can access their data and how it is being used.
Attempts to reach Grandview’s mayor and police chief for comment have not yet been successful.
