{"id":243858,"date":"2026-07-15T11:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/243858\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T11:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:22:09","slug":"morning-call-lawsuit-seeks-allentown-flock-license-plate-reader-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/243858\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning Call lawsuit seeks Allentown Flock license plate reader data"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Morning Call has partnered with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press<\/a> in a legal case seeking the release of Allentown\u2019s Flock Safety license plate reader data.<\/p>\n

The news organization in April filed a Right to Know request with the city seeking \u201call aggregated data showing the Allentown Police Department\u2019s searches on its Flock Safety License Plate Reader systems, including the dates and reasons for the search.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city denied the request, claiming that the data contains confidential criminal investigative information that is exempt from public records requests. The Lehigh County district attorney\u2019s office\u2019s appeals officer\u00a0upheld the denial.<\/p>\n

Allentown has 67 Flock Safety automatic license plate readers, installed in 2024, that capture information about passing vehicles. Police are then alerted when a stolen or wanted vehicle is spotted.<\/p>\n

The Morning Call is seeking all available search data on the license-plate reader system, including dates and the reason logged for the search, but excluding any personally identifiable information.<\/p>\n

The Reporters Committee\u2019s Pennsylvania attorney, Paula Knudsen Burke, and attorney Jim Davy of All Rise Trial & Appellate filed an appeal of the DA\u2019s office\u2019s denial this week on behalf of the news organization.<\/p>\n

In the filings, Burke and Davy argue that the city failed to prove that the requested records contain investigative information. The state\u2019s Right-to-Know Law makes clear that the exemption for investigative information doesn\u2019t apply to aggregated data, Burke and Davy argue. They are asking the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas to order the release of the data.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City cannot evade its obligation to provide access to audit records of local law enforcement\u2019s usage of a private surveillance company merely because the records have some connection with law enforcement,\u201d the appeal argues.<\/p>\n

Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas Judge J. Brian Johnson has been assigned to the case.<\/p>\n

Morning Call Editor John Misinco said the release of the records is\u00a0in the public interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public deserves to have a better understanding of how this new and rapidly evolving technology, which has raised privacy concerns, is being used locally,\u201d he said. \u201cGetting access to the records we are seeking should help provide a clearer picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allentown police Chief Charles Roca has called the Flock Safety devices, including license plate readers and automatic gunshot detection devices, a \u201cgame changer\u201d for public safety investigations<\/a>, and said that findings from the technology now factor into practically all major crime investigations in the city.<\/p>\n

According to Atlanta-based Flock Safety, data is stored on the network for 30 days and police officers must log a reason when they search the database.<\/p>\n

Flock critics have raised privacy and safety concerns about these cameras, which are located throughout Allentown, according to a crowd-sourced map of the cameras compiled by DeFlock<\/a>, a volunteer organization that opposes the proliferation of these cameras.<\/p>\n

The American Civil Liberties Union is a prominent critic of Flock Safety. Officials with that organization have said the technology could create a \u201cnationwide mass-surveillance system\u201d by making collected data searchable to all Flock customers.<\/p>\n

National news reports have also documented police misuse of the search system, including logging vague reasons for searches <\/a>or, in some cases, using the system to stalk civilians.<\/a><\/p>\n

Data collected on Flock Safety devices is available on an encrypted cloud system that is searchable to law enforcement. In addition to police departments, private businesses and homeowners associations can also buy and use Flock Safety devices to monitor their areas.<\/p>\n

According to the terms of Allentown\u2019s contract with Flock Safety, which is available in full on the city\u2019s website<\/a>, there is a four-year initial period and two-year \u201crenewal\u201d period if the city opts in, which means discussions on renewing the contract could begin next year.<\/p>\n

The Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press is also representing The Morning Call, along with Lehigh Valley Live and Lehigh Valley News, in seeking the unsealing of records<\/a> related to drug-related charges filed in August against Lehigh County Commissioner Zach Cole-Borghi. That case is pending appeal.<\/p>\n

Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Morning Call has partnered with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in a legal case…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,46,182,139,432],"class_list":["post-243858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-courts","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}