Fridley police detail who can access Flock Safety camera data amid concerns from residents

Police in Fridley, Minnesota, are restricting who can access data from Flock Safety cameras.

At a packed City Council meeting on Monday night, the department walked through data, showing Fridley's network of cameras was searched hundreds of thousands of times in December and January by agencies around the country. 

"Prior to February 2026, our network was open to out-of-state law enforcement agencies and was searched heavily, as you guys can tell," said Patrick Faber, deputy director of public safety, during the meeting. "Some of that access was used for immigration-related searches, a purpose the program was never meant to serve."

Many in the crowd showed up to oppose those immigration-related searches. Some cited a Star Tribune article reporting searches of Flock databases in the Twin Cities were used for immigration enforcement.

The police department said it's already made changes, like restricting access to Minnesota agencies only and blocking immigration-related searches. As of this month, Faber said, agencies with a 287(g) agreement will not have access to the network.

Faber highlighted that total searches of the Fridley Flock network dropped from 494,812 in January to 22,480 in February. Immigration-related searches fell from 107 to 0. 

A Flock spokesperson said they do not have any contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, adding that individual agencies determine whether to share data with other law enforcement agencies. 

The City of Fridley has used automatic license plate readers since 2009, but switched over to Flock cameras in the fall of 2023. The city now has a website detailing the use of the cameras and all the requests it's received for data.

Just last month, plastic bags covered some of the Flock cameras in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, after city officials voted to cancel their contract with Flock over privacy concerns.