The union representing roughly 3,000 Metropolitan Police Department officers, detectives, and sergeants says MPD management never properly negotiated or enforced controls over the department's Flock automated license-plate reader system, and now a class grievance over the issue is headed to arbitration after being denied. DC Police Union President Gregg Pemberton says the department has failed to put guardrails in place to prevent misuse of the technology, even as MPD has already restricted outside access to its camera data once this year.
Union Says Grievance Was Denied, Now Goes to Arbitration
According to DC News Now, the DC Police Union submitted a class grievance in July demanding that violations tied to Flock camera use stop, arguing that MPD had failed to negotiate, establish, and enforce required controls over its license plate reader and Flock systems. That grievance was denied and is now proceeding to arbitration. The union also filed misconduct complaints the same month after identifying what it described as improper use of cameras through Flock system data, and those complaints remain active, per the outlet's reporting.
Pemberton told DC News Now that the core issue is not the cameras themselves but the unknowns surrounding them. “The problem is that the system's full capabilities remain unknown,” Pemberton said, according to the station's report. He said MPD should allow public input and require consistent justification, logging, and audit rules at every rank. The union has acknowledged that the Flock system may be a legitimate tool when used under a lawful standard, the outlet reports, and MPD has not provided a statement to DC News Now as of publication.
MPD Already Cut Off Outside Access Once This Year
The dispute lands against a backdrop of an already-expansive camera network. MPD operates 67 Flock automated license-plate readers across the District that scan roughly 400,000 tags a day, storing tag details and vehicle features in a database for up to 90 days, according to NOTUS. That retention window is longer than many jurisdictions allow. Flock cameras operate across Washington, D.C. in the thousands when counting the broader camera family MPD relies on, per DC News Now's reporting, and MPD issued a new teletype in July restricting department-wide access to the system.
This is not MPD's first adjustment to the program this year. After D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson raised concerns in January about privacy and regional data-sharing through Flock's National Lookup Tool, MPD cut off outside police departments' direct access to the District's Flock database earlier in 2026, NOTUS reported, a move Henderson also detailed in her own newsletter.
Regional Pushback Is Intensifying Around DC
The union's grievance surfaces as Flock's presence across the National Capital Region is drawing fire from multiple directions at once. Alexandria, Virginia Mayor Alyia Gaskins and city council members wanted the city's Flock cameras removed and directed police to research alternative vendors over civil liberties concerns, even though Alexandria police already purge their 61 cameras' data after just 21 days, as reported by FOX 5 DC. Virginia state lawmakers have separately introduced bipartisan proposals this month to consider a statewide ban on Flock license-plate readers over Fourth Amendment and mass surveillance concerns.
Not every neighboring department is backing away. Montgomery County, Maryland has an automated license plate reader program that does not use Flock cameras, while auto thefts in the county increased 22% this month, per FOX 5 DC's separate reporting.
A Pattern of Misuse Nationwide
The union's concerns echo a broader national reckoning with ALPR oversight, including disputes involving inter-agency data access, jurisdictional privacy rules, and corporate control over plate records, according to reporting cited on 7News DC's Facebook page. The civil rights group Institute for Justice has filed federal class-action lawsuits against San Jose, California, and Norfolk, Virginia, arguing that Flock's camera networks amount to unconstitutional warrantless mass surveillance, per CBS News.
Hoodline previously reported on a Milwaukee officer suspended in December 2025 and charged in February 2026 over alleged Flock snooping, and a separate Milwaukee detective faced similar charges in July. Those cases, paired with the Institute for Justice's national findings, underscore why the DC Police Union is now pressing MPD for enforceable audit logs and justification requirements rather than opposing the cameras outright.
