Remove Flock cameras from all Lowes stores

Lowe's customers should not have to submit to automated vehicle surveillance simply to visit a home-improvement store.

Lowe's has installed automated license plate reader cameras, including technology supplied by Flock Safety, at some store parking lots. These systems do more than provide ordinary security footage. They automatically capture license plates and turn information about vehicles—including the plate number, vehicle characteristics, location, date, and time—into searchable data.

This means that vehicles belonging to customers, employees, delivery drivers, contractors, and people merely passing through a parking area may be recorded without any individualized suspicion that they have committed a crime.

Lowe's states that it may retain automated license plate reader data for up to 90 days and may disclose personal information to state or local law enforcement when the company believes doing so will protect safety, property, or legal rights, address activity on Lowe's property, or assist with potential criminal activity.

The concern is not simply that a camera may photograph a publicly visible license plate. The concern is that routine visits can be converted into searchable records of where identifiable vehicles were located, retained for weeks or months, and potentially made available through a much broader surveillance infrastructure.

Flock Safety promotes its platform as a shared network connecting businesses, communities, and law enforcement. Public records have also shown that a Texas sheriff's office was able to access Flock cameras associated with 173 Lowe's locations across the United States.

Customers should not be placed into a searchable surveillance system simply because they purchased lumber, tools, gardening supplies, or materials for their homes.

The Solution

We call on Lowe's to:

Remove Flock Safety cameras and other automated license plate readers from all Lowe's-owned or controlled properties.
Stop collecting and retaining license plate and vehicle-location data from customers, employees, contractors, and visitors who are not connected to a specific reported incident.
Delete previously collected automated license plate reader data unless Lowe's is legally required to preserve information associated with a specific active investigation.
End routine or direct law-enforcement access to Lowe's customer vehicle databases.
Publish a transparent report identifying:
The number and locations of Lowe's stores using automated license plate readers;
The vendors operating those systems;
How many license plate scans have been collected;
How long the information has been retained;
Which agencies have received or accessed the information; and
How many access requests were supported by a warrant, court order, or other legal process.
Use less intrusive security measures, such as improved lighting, trained asset-protection personnel, conventional security cameras, emergency call stations, and incident-specific preservation of footage.

Lowe's can protect its customers, employees, and property without recording every vehicle that enters its parking lots or contributing to a nationwide network of searchable location information.

We urge Lowe's leadership to remove these systems and adopt a security policy that respects both public safety and personal privacy.

Shopping at Lowe's should not mean consenting to automated tracking.