Flock Safety tries to curb police abuse of its surveillance cameras after scandals

A Flock Safety license plate reader on a road in Houston, Texas. Photograph: David Goldman/AP

For nearly a decade, the company Flock Safety has gradually built out a network of cameras across the US that allows law enforcement officials to conduct about 20bn license plate scans every month.

In that time, the company had largely left the decision to turn on safety measures up to its customers. Many of those organizations did not turn them on.