The city of Newburgh Police’s Flock system was included in hundreds of thousands of searches by outside law enforcement agencies between Oct. 1, 2024, and Jan. 22, 2026, according to a report obtained by WAMC.
The report, originally sent by the Newburgh Police Chief Brandon Rola to the mayor, City Council, and interim city manager on Aug. 27, describes an audit that found when law enforcement agencies outside Newburgh -- including federal, state, and municipal level police -- searched Flock’s database, the city of Newburgh Police Department’s (CNPD) Flock system was also included.
The report shows some searches listed reasons with terms like “ICE,” “immigration” and “HSI,” which is short for Homeland Security Investigations.
Chief Rola says in the report that on Jan. 23, 2026, he prevented access to Newburgh’s automatic license plate readers by most outside law enforcement agencies.
The report emanated from a request by the Newburgh City Council, as some members seek more information as they press to cancel the city's contract with Flock. The discussion in Newburgh mirrors what's happening in communities across the Northeast -- and across the country -- as residents and city leaders debate whether the technology is a useful crime fighting tool or a form of unnecessary surveillance.
In the report, Rola said his audit was limited in its findings and only shows the searches that included Newburgh’s Flock system. The report does not indicate whether those searches actually returned a Newburgh license plate or ended up producing any kind of law enforcement action. Rola and Mayor Torrance Harvey did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Rola suggested in a June City Council work session that instead of canceling the Flock contract and losing around $400,000, Newburgh Police could implement more safeguards on license plate readers and provide “documentation showing that no outside agency can access, view, or search our city of Newburgh [License Plate Readers].”
Councilmember Ramona Monteverde confirmed Tuesday she had received the report and said council members have to be strategic about canceling the contract with Flock.
“That’s the whole thing about Flock, right? It can’t be trusted because you don’t know who is accessing the data and that’s why we have to get rid of it,” Monteverde said Tuesday.
The Newburgh City Council has postponed and voted multiple times this year against a resolution by Councilmember Omari Shakur that would end the city's contract with Flock. At the latest vote in August, only he and council members Giselle Martinez and Robert McLymore voted to cancel the contract.
Most members of the City Council have argued that canceling Newburgh’s Flock contract too hastily would be a giveaway of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the company Flock.
“I do not want a surveillance state. On the other side of that token, as council person with a fiduciary responsibility for our funding, I would hate to just hand over it's actually $390,000 to a contract,” Councilmember Ronald Zorrilla said in May.
The mayor has called concern over Flock cameras overblown.
“After 911 the federal government, under the former President George W. Bush, passed the Patriot Act. Then they renewed it a few years after that. Ever since they passed that federal legislation, we are all under surveillance,” Harvey said at a May City Council meeting.
The mayor has also said there could be other repercussions for the city since the money comes from a grant from New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services Crime Analysis Center (CAC), and could jeopardize that relationship.
On Jan. 23, when Rola revoked access from outside agencies to Newburgh’s Flock system, he continued to allow CAC access. On April 14, he also limited access for the criminal analysis center, requiring them to obtain permission from CNPD before they could include Newburgh’s Flock system in their searches.
Meanwhile, members of the public have voiced concerns about Flock cameras.
Ann Sullivan, who works in Newburgh, pointed out language in the city’s master services agreement that says “Flock does not own and shall not sell customer data.” But the agreement also says Flock can disclose footage to law enforcement if legally required to or if Flock has “a good faith belief” that it’s “necessary to comply with a legal process” or “emergency situations.”
In June, Sullivan was skeptical about this loophole.
“If a judge in Texas thinks that it can be used to prosecute somebody who came to New York for an abortion or find somebody whose immigrant status doesn't agree with the current president's immigrant status, that they can, that Flock can keep that data and pass that data along to them,” Sullivan said.
