Flock CEO: We haven’t ‘fired’ any police departments as customers

Flock CEO Garrett Langley said that his institution has not ended immoderate contracts with its customers implicit maltreatment of its products.

Speaking to TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos astatine the Disrupt 2026 league successful San Francisco, Langley responded to criticisms facing the institution astir the misuse of its licence sheet scholar cameras by constabulary departments. It comes aft streams of reporting identifying dozens of constabulary officers who person been arrested, fired, oregon told to resign aft being caught abusing entree to Flock’s nationwide database of licence sheet detections, oftentimes to stalk radical without permission.

Langley told Loizos that the institution would extremity a narration with a lawsuit wherever determination was wide wide maltreatment of its systems. But, the CEO said, it has not to day “fired” a customer, arsenic helium enactment it, specified arsenic a constabulary section oregon instrumentality enforcement agency. Langley said Flock had the statement internally, but argued that the institution should not instrumentality distant its merchandise from a assemblage that mightiness request it successful its efforts to combat crime. 

“If a lawsuit knowingly broke the law, we would occurrence them immediately. That’s precise easy,” Langley said.

“Most of the statement is nuanced into ‘what if 2 officers retired of 50 were caught?’ Today, we haven’t fired immoderate customers, but it’s not disconnected the array successful the lawsuit of immoderate beauteous drastic law-abiding issue,” added Langley. 

The maltreatment of Flock’s systems and the information it collects is the latest successful an array of controversies embroiling the Atlanta, Georgia-based shaper of licence sheet scholar cameras. Flock has much than 100,000 cameras astir the United States, which let section constabulary departments and national agencies to way the whereabouts of vehicle licence plates and people arsenic they walk by. 

By allowing its instrumentality enforcement customers to way licence plates extracurricular of their jurisdictions, immoderate constabulary departments tin way cars crossed the full state done Flock’s nationalist cardinal database.

Protest extracurricular Disrupt during Flock interview

Flock has go a flashpoint successful the surveillance debate, prompting towns, cities, and communities to cull the company’s cameras by canceling their contracts oregon allowing them to expire, citing privateness fears. 

There person been aggregate reports of Flock reactivating cameras against their customers’ wishes, prompting section residents to portion trash bags implicit the cameras and other times destroying them.

While Langley spoke connected the Disrupt Stage, demonstrators gathered extracurricular the venue to protestation against Flock’s AI-powered surveillance, wearing costumes similar the reddish robes from “Handmaid’s Tale” and cardboard replicas of Flock cameras connected their heads, portion clips from the “1984” movie played connected a loudspeaker down them. Others carried signs declaring “Flock off” or, “Flock = ICE.”

Flock does not person a nonstop declaration with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but the agency has reportedly accessed Flock data successful the past by collaborating with section constabulary departments that usage Flock cameras.

A photograph of Flock protesters extracurricular Moscone Center successful San Francisco.Image Credits:TechCrunch

Ashley Ortiz, an organizer with section progressive activistic radical The Wolves, told TechCrunch that she wants section lawmakers to instrumentality constituents’ concerns astir Flock much seriously.

“I deliberation Flock is going to beryllium the commencement of a batch much assemblage building, due to the fact that we tin travel unneurotic astir thing arsenic bipartisan arsenic not enjoying wide surveillance,” said Ortiz. “We person Republicans who articulation us, conservatives who agree, we person sovereign citizens cutting down Flock cameras, truthful it’s not conscionable the near who doesn’t privation AI-powered wide surveillance.”

When asked what questions she has for Langley, Ortiz said, “What astir AI-powered wide surveillance should beryllium making america consciousness safe?”

In reply to that, Langley argued, connected stage, that its licence sheet tracking strategy has been allowing constabulary departments to lick much crimes and to lick them faster. He offered anecdotes, specified arsenic a stolen car with a babe successful the backmost spot being recovered rapidly thanks, helium said, to Flock systems.

Still, Flock has besides faced disapproval for cybersecurity issues, and camera accuracy issues that person resulted successful dozens of constabulary stops and wrongful arrests, including a journalist who was driving a reappraisal vehicle.

Some communities person replaced their Flock contracts with rival surveillance companies, specified arsenic Axon, the shaper of Taser weapons and constabulary bodycams. 

On a imaginable merchantability to Axon, Langley said the institution was not considering a sale. “No, we’ve nary tendency to merchantability the company.”