Flock Safety, which builds automated license plate reader networks used by thousands of police departments, is facing bipartisan backlash after a Washington Post investigation found officers misusing the system, according to TechCrunch. The Post identified 46 cases in which officers used Flock's cameras for unauthorized purposes, including tracking former romantic partners, TechCrunch reported.
A separate Washington Post count found at least 50 officers accused, charged or convicted of misusing license plate reader systems, with 26 of those cases involving officers tracking wives, girlfriends, ex-partners or people they wanted to meet, according to reporting by The National Desk.
Flock CEO Garrett Langley apologized to victims and called for finding "a compromise between privacy and safety." "I apologize. It kills me that she went through that," he said, according to TechCrunch, while maintaining that Flock did not create police abuse but rather exposed it.
In response, Flock cut its default data retention from 30 days to seven, added an automated auditing system meant to flag unusual searches, and now requires officers to attach a case code and offense type to each search, though both safeguards can be overridden through a feature called Evidence Mode, TechCrunch reported. Politicians on both sides have targeted the company: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders posted "STOP AI MASS SURVEILLANCE. STOP FLOCK," while three House Republicans introduced legislation barring federal purchases of automated surveillance systems including Flock cameras.
For any founder selling into law enforcement or government, the lesson is not about Flock's technology specifically. It is that a tool built for one stated purpose will get used for others by the people holding it, and the audit trail that catches that misuse has to be harder to override than a single dropdown menu.