Flock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police. We Got Its Code
Flock Safety, maker of widely deployed surveillance cameras, has built a next-generation AI system that goes beyond its known license plate tracking capabilities. WIRED reconstructed the system's code and confirmed it is already being used by some police departments.
Why this matters: Flock cameras are already in thousands of neighborhoods, and most residents have no idea. The pitch has always been license plates — narrow, specific, defensible. If the new system goes further, that boundary is gone. Broader AI surveillance tools can profile movement, behavior, or appearance across a whole area. Police departments adopting this do not need to announce it. The people being watched almost never find out. That asymmetry is the problem. What a tool can do in the field matters far more than what a company says it is designed for.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · AI governance · Policy
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