Leaked Flock Guide Shows How It Teaches Cops to Promote Its Tech

3 hours ago

Flock provides police with a coaching guide on how to pitch its license plate reader technology to city councils, even amid public opposition.
The guide advises police to avoid debating whether the technology constitutes mass surveillance and instead reframe the discussion around governance and community safety.
Flock encourages police to build support early by briefing city managers and council members before public meetings, and to use a carefully scripted presentation.
The guide suggests reframing financial discussions by focusing on the cost of unresolved crime rather than the price of the cameras.
Flock's tactics are part of a broader effort to counter criticism, including controversies over data sharing with ICE, use in abortion-related searches, and surveillance of protesters.
The guide includes success stories in Oakland and Richmond, California, where Flock contracts were renewed despite public scrutiny.
Critics, including the EFF and local activists, argue that Flock is exploiting police as salespeople and undermining public governance.
The guide acknowledges public expectations for transparency and accountability but treats opposition as a messaging problem rather than a substantive issue.

Flock cameras are installed across the US without public consent, tracking vehicles via license plate recognition.
The cameras capture vehicle details like plate, make, model, color, and direction; data is stored in the cloud and searchable across a network.
Risks include AI-driven false alerts, cloud security vulnerabilities, unauthorized access by multiple agencies, and potential misuse for profiling.

Flock Safety cameras are being vandalized across the US, with individuals using saws, paint, and trucks, and cities canceling contracts due to privacy concerns.
The company's network of 120,000 cameras records license plates and vehicle data, used by police for crime-solving, but critics argue it invades privacy and enables surveillance.
Opposition to Flock is bipartisan, uniting conservatives and progressives who see it as a threat to individual liberties and a step toward a police state.

Joel experienced a wrongful police stop due to an NCIC database error amplified by Flock cameras, not a Flock system error.
Flock CEO Garrett Langley defends the technology, citing over a million crimes solved last year and a very low false positive rate.
Langley advocates for modernizing the FBI's NCIC database with expiration periods and feedback loops to prevent stale data.

A vigilante known as 'NoMark' has been disabling Flock Safety's automated license plate readers (ALPRs) in Minneapolis, citing surveillance concerns.
Flock Safety's ALPRs, used by law enforcement across the US, have sparked backlash from privacy advocates who view them as mass surveillance tools.
Vigilantes nationwide are damaging or obstructing Flock cameras, with at least 33 documented incidents across 23 states, often to protest surveillance.

Texas police used over 83,000 Flock cameras across multiple states to track a woman who had an abortion, despite abortion being legal in the states where searches occurred.
The 'welfare check' justification was false; the abortion occurred two weeks prior, and deputies were investigating a 'non-viable fetus' and consulting prosecutors about charges.
Flock Safety cameras photograph all license plates and store data in a nationally searchable database accessible by over 4,000 law enforcement agencies without warrants.

Flock cameras are installed across the US without public consent, tracking vehicles via license plate recognition.
The cameras capture vehicle details like plate, make, model, color, and direction; data is stored in the cloud and searchable across a network.
Risks include AI-driven false alerts, cloud security vulnerabilities, unauthorized access by multiple agencies, and potential misuse for profiling.

Flock Safety cameras are being vandalized across the US, with individuals using saws, paint, and trucks, and cities canceling contracts due to privacy concerns.
The company's network of 120,000 cameras records license plates and vehicle data, used by police for crime-solving, but critics argue it invades privacy and enables surveillance.
Opposition to Flock is bipartisan, uniting conservatives and progressives who see it as a threat to individual liberties and a step toward a police state.

Joel experienced a wrongful police stop due to an NCIC database error amplified by Flock cameras, not a Flock system error.
Flock CEO Garrett Langley defends the technology, citing over a million crimes solved last year and a very low false positive rate.
Langley advocates for modernizing the FBI's NCIC database with expiration periods and feedback loops to prevent stale data.

A vigilante known as 'NoMark' has been disabling Flock Safety's automated license plate readers (ALPRs) in Minneapolis, citing surveillance concerns.
Flock Safety's ALPRs, used by law enforcement across the US, have sparked backlash from privacy advocates who view them as mass surveillance tools.
Vigilantes nationwide are damaging or obstructing Flock cameras, with at least 33 documented incidents across 23 states, often to protest surveillance.

Texas police used over 83,000 Flock cameras across multiple states to track a woman who had an abortion, despite abortion being legal in the states where searches occurred.
The 'welfare check' justification was false; the abortion occurred two weeks prior, and deputies were investigating a 'non-viable fetus' and consulting prosecutors about charges.
Flock Safety cameras photograph all license plates and store data in a nationally searchable database accessible by over 4,000 law enforcement agencies without warrants.

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