Post

Flock Safety’s surveillance network has been expanding for years. In recent months, we’ve reported on growing concerns around how US law enforcement is using its cameras, as allegations of misuse pile up. Here’s a deep dive into how we got here.

Back in 2019, Atlanta-based startup Flock Safety supplied the local police department with 13 solar-powered automatic license-plate readers to install on public roads. The company said it was on a mission to “eliminate nonviolent crime.” www.wired.com/story/flock-...

Flock boasted that its cameras caused a 50 percent drop in reported crimes like robbery and nonresidential burglary. But experts, and the police themselves, could not confirm a direct causal link between the surveillance technology and declining crime rates. www.wired.com/story/flock-...

Flash forward to last year, when an accidental leak revealed Flock was training its AI surveillance system using overseas gig workers from Upwork. By that time, Flock cameras were present in thousands of communities across the country. www.wired.com/story/flock-...

On August 6, we reported that at least four police departments which Flock had highlighted on its YouTube channel had faced misuse allegations. Flock said that incidents of misuse were addressed, and they shouldn’t discount the tech's usefulness. www.wired.com/story/flock-...

On August 18, we revealed that Noel Pichardo, a Rhode Island police officer, was subjected to five internal affairs investigations in less than two years after he raised questions about his city's embrace of Flock surveillance cameras. www.wired.com/story/the-co...

Pichardo’s public callout of his department’s increasing reliance on Flock surveillance tech attracted a series of internal investigations that, he says, ended his career in law enforcement. www.wired.com/story/the-co...