A Newburgh Police Department memo obtained by WAMC says outside agencies have accessed the data collected by the city’s Flock cameras without permission.
According to a memo Newburgh Police Chief Brandon Rolla sent to the city council and interim city manager, between October 2024 and January 2026, hundreds of thousands of searches by law enforcement agencies around the country included the City of Newburgh Police Department’s Flock License Plate Reader Network.
Some of reasons listed for those searches included terms such as “ICE," “HSI," which is short for Homeland Security Investigations, and “immigration.”
According to the memo, Rolla configured the city's Flock system in January to prevent most outside law enforcement agencies from accessing the network going forward.
City Councilmember Romana Monteverde confirmed she received the memo.
“That’s the whole thing about Flock right," Monteverde said. "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.”
The Newburgh City Council has not yet voted to cancel the city's Flock contract, because as Monteverde put it, they are trying to be strategic and avoid penalties.
The Newburgh Police Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.
