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Police using Flock Safety’s artificial intelligence tools can now track a vehicle based only on its location and movements. Flock’s OS Investigate, formerly known as Nightshift, is an AI tool that identifies vehicles and ranks drivers’ “associates” based on how frequently they appear together at the same Flock camera, WIRED reported. Flock website code reviewed by WIRED listed 45 functions available to OS Investigate, including plate scans, camera metadata, arrest records, case files and 911 dispatch logs to identify potential suspects. “[T]his [Flock tool] really crosses a line from a tool that’s used to investigate suspicious people to deciding who...

In a year as chaotic, violent, and economically destructive as this one has been, it is interesting that, to many Americans, the great villain of 2026 is turning out to be a traffic camera.But, indeed, we are seeing visceral, cross-partisan opposition to so-called Flock cameras—named after the leading manufacturer of these automated license plate readers—take hold in communities across the country. And that opposition is, to be sure, entirely legitimate.Flock’s camera networks are based on the idea that, while it would obviously be illegal and unconstitutional for law enforcement at any and all levels to put GPS trackers in everyone’s...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A reproductive rights group is raising concern that Flock automated license plate readers could be used to track abortion patients in Columbus. On Aug. 10, Columbus City Council had a hearing to receive community feedback on Flock cameras, which capture vehicle details and license plates. The technology is often used by police to track suspects and missing people. The council meeting was spurred by growing local scrutiny of the cameras over concerns about privacy and data sharing with federal immigration enforcement. Abortion Forward Deputy Director Jaime Miracle spoke at the hearing, urging the council to remove...

Following a vote to suspend the use of Flock cameras in the city, Pflugerville said over 400 agencies had accessed its Flock system, while only 83 had authorization. The city said it had authorized 83 partner agencies to have access to its Flock system, which included select Texas police departments, universities and state agencies. This new information comes after Pflugerville City Council members unanimously voted to terminate their master services agreement with Flock Safety at their Tuesday night meeting, resulting in the city turning off all 28 Flock License Plate Reader cameras leased by the city and covering them with...

0️⃣BlackBetty ⚓️ @BabyD1111229 Woo hoo! 👏🏻 A Texas constable just unplugged every Flock surveillance camera in his county and told the company to come get its garbage out of a free society. Hood County Precinct 2 Constable John Shirley refused to wait for another empty study or corporate promise. He and his team went out, disconnected the entire network of license-plate readers, covered them, and shut the system down cold. “Today is a good day for the Freedom of the people of Hood County,” he posted. He explained that he had finished the job of shutting down the county’s Flock...

If you’ve been wondering whether Flock cameras are tracking your movements, there’s a way to find out. Wonder if you’ve been Flocked? Wonder if your neighborhood has been Flocked? What the Flock am I talking about? Flock cameras are those new, souped-up Big Brother “traffic” cameras that have been breeding like ants all over the country. They are very good at capturing your license plate and other identifying information: SNIP You may be wondering where these Flock cameras are in your neighborhood and whether they’ve captured you. Happily, there are very easy ways to check. First, the map. Below is...

The CEO of Flock Safety apologized Thursday for cases in which law enforcement agencies misused the company’s license plate reader technology and announced a series of policy changes aimed at preventing further abuse. “The short message would be, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that the system has failed you,” CEO Garrett Langley said. Langley said the company is recommending law enforcement agencies reduce the time camera data is stored from 30 days down to seven. Earlier this week, New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon revealed his office had been storing license plate reader data for 90 days. McMahon said the office...

Flock Safety raised $960M total, reaching a $7.5B valuation backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund. Toka reportedly lets clients hack cameras, alter footage, and erase evidence without leaving forensic traces. Researchers demonstrated live camera-feed hijacking at Black Hat, proving footage tampering is technically achievable today. SNIP

From wrongful arrests to officers stalking exes, license plate cameras keep exposing police failures.On October 4, 2025, Joaquin Deno attended his granddaughter's birthday party in Sanford, Florida. At the end of the night, he headed to his daughter's house. Eight miles down Interstate 4, a speeding car swerved across multiple lanes at over 100 mph. It swiped Deno's motorcycle, then hit a Ford Focus, causing a pileup, before driving away. Deno died at the scene, as did a county official and his wife. Witnesses said the speeding car was a Dodge Durango. Police found that a Flock camera—a type of...

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — Pennsylvania State Police are still working to identify whoever has been cutting down Flock cameras throughout Franklin County this summer as a protest against the cameras is just days away. One of the cameras, located near the Lowes off Lincoln Way E. in Chambersburg, was cut down July 4 and replaced with an American flag. Then, sometime overnight Sunday into Monday, troopers said another Flock camera was cut down off Moly Pitcher Highway in Antrim Township. READ MORE | Cameras cut down, replaced with American flag amid Flock debate in Franklin County Pennsylvania State Police...

As concerns over law enforcement’s use of Flock Safety cameras intensify, there has been an increasing number of reports about police officers misusing the surveillance system for personal purposes. Officers all across the country have exploited the company's automated license plate reader cameras to track romantic partners or acquaintances in recent months. Despite claims that the cameras help police find and apprehend criminals, this new trend has raised even more complaints and criticisms about law enforcement agencies using the cameras with little to no oversight. CBS News reported that Habersham County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office Deputy Christian Brewer was fired and...

Typically I report the news, but sometimes, rarely, I am the news. That time just came. Millions of people saw the story about my wife and I getting surrounded by the police after errors made by law enforcement and Flock Safety’s systems led authorities to believe I had performed grand theft auto with a $155,000 Range Rover. The body cam footage of the situation went viral. It was just weeks before my encounter with the law that we had an episode of The Drivecast featuring security expert and Ent.AI CISO Matt Hurewitz talking about how license plate cameras are tracking...

For weeks, Verona, Wisconsin tried to get Flock to remove the three automated license plate cameras that its city council had voted to stop using. Flock told city employees not to remove the cameras, and a Flock employee told city officials that they were unsure whether the cameras could be remotely disabled, which led the town to decide to put black plastic trash bags over them until Flock eventually removed the cameras itself, according to emails obtained using a public records request by 404 Media. The emails give insight into the process cities face while deFlocking themselves after voting not...

New Gallup data show that people are growing increasingly distrustful of major technology companies such as Meta, Apple, and Google, as well as a newer player in the surveillance industry, Flock Safety. Some people are even taking matters into their own hands by destroying the AI-powered surveillance cameras appearing in communities across the country. Flock Safety, a private surveillance technology company founded in 2017, has been earning a reputation as a herald of the much-feared Orwellian “surveillance state.” Although a private company, Flock’s business model operates by selling AI-powered camera and audio detection systems to local and state governments for...

An innocent driver is stopped by a gun-waving police officer who sics a dog on him and he ends up in jail for hours, or even days. It’s happening more and more in America, a new study confirms, and it’s all because the technology for machines to read license plate numbers, and report them, fails. The results are from a study by the Institute for Justice, which confirmed such cases coming up over and over. The list, large already, is growing: A Colorado driver was repeatedly pulled over after officers mistakenly put his license plate number on a Flock hotlist....

Hours before the sun rose on Dallas police Chief Daniel Comeaux’s first day on the job, an elderly man in a wheelchair was shot dead near Fair Park. Two days later, the new chief stood among a cluster of officers outside the suspected gunman’s home in west Oak Cliff. He was impressed by one tool the investigators had used to arrive there: the network of license plate-reading cameras scattered across the city. “I was like, ‘Alright,’” Comeaux recalled saying, referencing the April case months later in an episode of Bridging the Divide, the Assist the Officer Foundation’s podcast, “‘explain this...