Amid growing debate over surveillance tech in law enforcement, Flock issues have become a flashpoint.
Some cities are beginning to fight back against the increasingly ubiquitous Flock Safety cameras used by law enforcement to track millions of vehicles each day. With mounting pressure, many of Flock’s contracts are being called into question, as is the legality of its business practices. Recent dust-ups in Colorado, Illinois, and Texas have resulted in legal action and canceled contracts in response to some of the most egregious offenses.
Amid growing public debate over the role of surveillance tech in law enforcement, Flock issues have become a flashpoint. Its cameras, which can track vehicles using an easily-searchable database, have blanketed hundreds of cities across the country. The company presents its product as a simple license plate scanner, boasting «billions of monthly plate reads.» That phrasing alone makes clear that committing a crime isn’t the only way to end up in Flock’s tracking database. One Virginia man found he had been tracked 526 times in just four months after investigating the company. Meanwhile, Flock’s pitch to law enforcement boasts much more aggressive AI capabilities than simple plate scanning, including a «Vehicle Fingerprint» that can track cars even without a license plate by identifying everything from paint jobs to specific objects in a truck bed.
Recently, Flock has come under fire as Federal immigration and border-control agencies began relying on it to enforce crackdowns that some argue violate state and local laws. Flock has been found guilty of breaking the law in at least one state, and its contracts with local police are either under scrutiny or canceled in a number of municipalities.
