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Boston Globe
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘Dragnet warrantless surveillance': Advocates raise concerns over license plate tracking database
'This is hugely concerning from a privacy and civil liberties perspective, particularly in communities that have some welcoming city or Trust Act law on the books that restricts information sharing pertaining to immigration,' said Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. Advertisement In a statement, Flock Safety said that departments must opt-in to share any data from their cameras with the broader network. Departments can choose to keep their data to themselves, share with specific other agencies, set geographic limits, or contribute to a national database, Flock Safety chief executive Garrett Langley Advertisement 'Each city should lay out acceptable and unacceptable use cases for [the system], as determined by the laws and values of its jurisdiction,' Langley wrote. 'And law enforcement agencies should regularly conduct audits to ensure all users are complying with the letter and spirit of those policies.' The Flock Safety data was acquired by the ACLU of Massachusetts following a public records request and shared with the Globe. It shows that 88 police departments in Massachusetts requested information from it over the past 12 months. It is unclear how many of those departments have cameras that share data nationwide, and Flock Safety did not respond to a request for that information. Michael Bradley, executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, described automatic plate readers as a 'proven public safety tool' typically governed by departmental policies that restrict access to authorized personnel and limit data retention. 'They help locate stolen vehicles, identify vehicles associated with missing or endangered individuals, and support investigations involving violent crime, organized theft, and more,' Bradley wrote in an email. 'When properly used, ALPR systems allow law enforcement to act swiftly and effectively, often in time-sensitive situations, without intruding on the public's civil liberties.' Unlike at least 16 other states, including Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire, Massachusetts has no law specifically regulating the use of ALPR systems. But the expansion of large-scale ALPR networks has prompted efforts to regulate the technology on Beacon Hill. In February, Watertown Representative Steven Owens filed legislation that would prohibit agencies from disclosing ALPR data, except as required by a judicial proceeding, and bar police from using plate recognition systems to track activity protected by the First Amendment. Advertisement The legislation would also set a 14-day limit for retaining ALPR data, unless it is needed for a specific criminal investigation. The legislation has been referred to the Joint Committee on Transportation. The ACLU of Massachusetts has endorsed the legislation, saying it strikes the right balance between recognizing the public safety utility of ALPR systems and protecting driver privacy. 'We have compromised, essentially,' Crockford said. 'It's our view that ideally, this information shouldn't be collected at all.' Holly Beilin, Flock Safety's director of communications, said the company supports 'the goals of legislation that would strengthen privacy protections and look forward to working with the legislature on this important issue.' The 88 agencies listed in the Flock dataset cover municipalities across the state, and range from urban agencies like the Springfield and Lowell police departments to suburbs and small towns. In Bellingham, a Norfolk County town of 17,000 people, the police department signed a deal to have Flock install cameras in 2023, Police Chief Ken Fitzgerald said in an interview. Fitzgerald said one perk of the system is that Flock operates the cameras and maintains the images they capture, cutting down on the administrative burden for the department. 'The nice portion of this for us, I suppose, is that government is not taking pictures or storing pictures of anyone,' he said. 'This is a private company.' That same privatization is worrisome for civil liberties advocates, who have voiced concerns that Flock is not accountable to the Massachusetts public. 'It is dragnet warrantless surveillance that targets all motorists,' Crockford said. 'Not people suspected of criminal activity, but anyone.' In 2020, the Advertisement But the Supreme Judicial Court cautioned that if a larger network of cameras existed, that could track a driver's movements in more detail, it could trigger constitutional protections against warrantless searches. 'In declining to establish a bright-line rule for when the use of ALPRs constitutes a search, we recognize this may bring some interim confusion,' Justice Frank M. Gaziano wrote in the decision. 'We trust, however, that as our cases develop, this constitutional line gradually and appropriately will come into focus.' Five years later, that focus remains elusive, legal analysts said. The SJC has not clarified its ruling, as more sophisticated ALPR networks have reached the market, and there is no Massachusetts legal challenge poised to raise those questions. Dan Dolan, a criminal defense lawyer and professor at New England School of Law, said the SJC's ruling was based on the narrow facts of that case, where a small set of cameras only tracked movements over the Bourne and Sagamore bridges. 'There was certainly, to me, no question they said those devices may constitute some sort of constitutional violation, depending on the amount of data being collected,' Dolan said.
CNBC
10-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
7. Flock Safety
Founders: Garrett Langley (CEO), Paige Todd, Matt Feury, Bailey QuintrellLaunched: 2017Headquarters: Atlanta, GeorgiaFunding: $957.5 million (PitchBook)Valuation: $7.5 billion (PitchBook)Key Technologies: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, edge computing, machine learning, Internet of ThingsIndustry: Public safety, defensePrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 0 Flock Safety, a police tech company from Atlanta, kicked off intense competition in the crime-fighting business this year. Flock Safety sells surveillance technology, including light-post mounted cameras, license plate reading systems, and drones, to police departments, private sector companies and communities concerned about crime. Flock Safety says its technology was used in 10% of all successful crime investigations in the country, and in the successful recovery of more than 1,000 missing persons. Recently, its system was used to help find a missing person with dementia in Indianola, Iowa, after an alert from a license plate camera. In another success story, Flock helped track down an armed man in New Mexico, who was wanted on suspicion of a shooting in Oklahoma. Flock has a new coffer to help its growth: It recently announced a $275 million round and 2024 revenue of $300 million, a 70% year-over-year increase. With investors including Tiger Global, a16z, and Matrix Partners, Flock Safety's scale and growth position it for an IPO within the next few years. In October 2024, Flock Safety acquired Aerodome, a pioneer in DFR technology for aerial surveillance; it plans to build a 100,000 square foot drone manufacturing facility in Atlanta. It is not just police departments using the technology. Flock Safety says it now works with seven of the 10 largest shopping malls in the U.S., and 10 out of 40 of the largest U.S. health-care providers. It continues to add customers from the public sector, last year bringing on major U.S. cities and state agencies as new customers, including Hempstead, NY, San Francisco, CA; Austin, TX; and the California Highway Patrol. The established player in its industry is Axon, a publicly held company founded in 1993. With annual revenue over $2 billion and America's highest-paid CEO, according to a recent Wall Street Journal analysis, Axon is known for its Taser technology. But Axon is now following Flock Safety's lead, recently announcing that it is adding light post-hung video surveillance cameras and drones. It also announced a new collaboration with Amazon's camera company Ring. The competition may come down to which company – others compete in the space as well, including Verkada, a Silicon Valley startup with a valuation of $4.5 billion, according to PitchBook – can spread the widest and easiest-to-use surveillance net that integrates information across public and private sectors and across America's fractured municipal police system.
Forbes
04-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Flock's AI Cameras Are Watching Cars All Over America. They're About To Get A Lot More Powerful.
Flock has tens of thousands of cameras operating across almost all American states. It's now giving those devices live streaming capability, making them significantly more powerful. Flock Safety, the $7.5 billion car surveillance company, has already built a sizable AI-powered camera network, with tens of thousands of smart license plate readers monitoring roads in 49 American states. Soon its cameras are going to capture a lot more. In the fall this year, cops will be able to turn their Flock license plate readers into something more akin to traditional surveillance cameras. While Flock cameras today take photos of vehicles, flagging any car that's on a hotlist of suspected vehicles to cops or private industry customers like FedEx or mall provider Simon Property, those same customers will soon be able to request either live feeds or 15 second clips from around the time a vehicle passed through a camera's field of vision. Garrett Langley, Flock CEO, told Forbes that the update should give cops more 'situational awareness.' Police will be able to pull up feeds from Flock cameras when a 911 call comes in, for instance, Langley said. 'We will just open up the five nearest cameras in real time and say, here's what's happening right now,' he said. There will also be the option to upgrade to a camera where the angle can be adjusted, for a wider purview. 'If it helps us get to our North Star of solving every single crime that happens in America, then it's a cost worth bearing.' For years, civil liberties experts have worried about Flock's expansion. Last week, 404 Media reported that a Texas agency had used it to locate a woman who'd had a self-administered abortion across state lines. Jay Stanley, technology director at the ACLU, fretted that Flock 'is trying to build a nationwide authoritarian surveillance system.' Langley, in response to those privacy concerns, said that Flock's tech was auditable and transparent. It was down to democratically-elected individuals and groups to decide if Flock was right for them and what they do with the data the cameras collect, he said. Flock's expansion comes on the heels of Axon Enterprise announcing a rival product to Flock's license plate readers in April. Flock and Axon, a $59 billion market cap publicly traded cop contractor best known for making the Taser, had previously been partners, but in February, the two companies had a very public break up. Axon CEO Rick Smith said at the time that Flock was trying to lock customers into its products by making its software restrictive enough that it didn't work as effectively with other vendors' tools. Langley in response claimed it was Axon that had decided to be less collaborative, as evidenced by its decision to stop working with or recommending Flock. Langley told Forbes in an interview last week that he was hoping to challenge Axon's 'monopoly' by building a competitor that the market had been lacking. He claimed agencies he spoke with had become 'frustrated with the monopolistic behavior that Axon has exhibited over the years and continues to exhibit, and I think that the beauty of capitalism is that it enables competition when properly enforced.' In response, Axon spokesperson Alex Engel said that Axon was a collaborative business with over 60 technology partners and integrations, which 'underscores our commitment to customer choice, interoperability, and transparency.' 'Axon's ecosystem is built on the belief that customers should always own and control their data,' Engel added, without mentioning Flock. Flock has been broadening its product offering for police to include drones, gunshot detection and a new software suite called Nova, which draws in information from police databases to make connections between suspects, properties or any other notable aspect of an investigation. That latter tool was built on technology Flock Safety quietly acquired in a previously unreported deal with Lucidus Tech last year. Lucidus was cofounded by former senior staff at Peregrine Technologies, a $2.5 billion startup that offers similar tech to Nova. Langley said that cops can now take information they find from Flock license plate readers and feed it into Nova to ask, for instance, if a car owner has a criminal history or any mental health conditions. For Flock, which raised $275 million earlier this year in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, expansion also means far higher overheads. The latest update to add surveillance camera functionality could increase costs substantially when it comes to storing the video on its Amazon Web Services servers. 'If it's heavily, heavily used, it will be quite expensive for us,' Langley said. 'But we feel like if it helps us get to our North Star of solving every single crime that happens in America, then it's a cost worth bearing.'
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Safety tech company launches tool to help law enforcement solve cases faster
Flock Safety has released another piece of revolutionary technology aimed at keeping everyday civilians safe from crime. The company's new product, Flock Nova, helps law enforcement with a common but often overlooked problem – a lack of data sharing and access. "I operated under the assumption that if I got pulled over or arrested in one city, that city would have access to all the other arrests that have occurred across the country, and the sad reality is this is not how it works," Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley told FOX Business. "And so, you might be doing a traffic stop on a very violent individual from a different state and have no idea. But now with Nova, we can disseminate that information and create an equal playing field for law enforcement and the people that they are trying to protect us from." Langley's company has already seen success in the law enforcement space with its license plate reader (LPR), which helped capture Paul Hyon Kim, who is facing charges related to arson at a Tesla facility in Las Vegas. Now, with Nova, Flock Safety is attempting to help law enforcement tackle the scourge of human trafficking. Tech Ceo Details His Company's Role In Catching Alleged Vegas Tesla Attacker The Flock Safety CEO told FOX Business that a "rapid decline in the law enforcement population" combined with Americans' unchanging safety expectations has created a "huge workload problem," something his company is aiming to combat with Nova. This especially comes into play with human trafficking, which Langley said can be "exceptionally hard to solve." Over the weekend, in raids across the country in which law enforcement used Nova, 87 adult victims and one juvenile victim were rescued. Additionally, there were 74 arrests, and seven firearms and $1.09 million seized, not including the cash inside an ATM that has yet to be opened. The operation, named "Coast to Coast," which took place over the course of 36 hours, targeted 26 illicit massage parlors in 19 states and included 157 police agencies. Read On The Fox Business App "TraffickStop, in collaboration with Flock Safety, is proud to provide investigators with the actionable intelligence they need to strengthen cases and hold traffickers accountable," said Andrew Romero, founder of Code Four Development. "As a retired organized crime detective, I've seen how real-time intelligence accelerates enforcement actions to dismantle criminal networks. We remain committed to equipping those on the front lines with the insights to move swiftly – and compassionately – against this crime." "I've been in law enforcement a little over 19 years now. And any time law enforcement has the ability to leverage a platform or emerging technology that increases access to investigative relevant information or data, it becomes a force multiplier for us. It allows us to better serve our communities and the survivors of the crimes that we investigate," Sgt. Arthur Nelsen, who works in Austin, Texas, told FOX Business. Nonprofit Urging Hhs To Reform 'Failed' National Human Trafficking Hotline, Replace With More Efficient Program Nelsen described law enforcement's tactics to fight human trafficking as having a "three-pillar approach," one of which, he says, is "public-private partnerships," such as the one with Flock Safety. However, Nelsen also told FOX Business that Nova allows law enforcement to "better prepare for proactive intervention that also prioritizes survivor safety." "As we try to improve," Nelsen said, "it's really critical that we develop these partnerships with the civilian companies and assets – AI software engineers or platform engineers – to be able for us to bring our tactical level knowledge and experience into systems such as these that benefit everybody within the community, our survivors, and strengthen case integrity and investigations for law enforcement." While Nova is AI-enabled, law enforcement agencies have the option of whether to use AI features, which is key for agencies in states that have regulations on AI. Langley told FOX Business that technologies like Nova are able to help law enforcement operate with a "level of precision that does not occur today." This, according to Langley, allows police to act "with surgical precision" against article source: Safety tech company launches tool to help law enforcement solve cases faster
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Georgia-based Flock Safety launches Smyrna drone facility
Flock Safety, the Georgia-based technology solutions provider, is opening a new manufacturing facility for drones in Smyrna. On Wednesday, company leaders and state officials gathered in Cobb County for the 97,000-square-foot facility's ribbon-cutting ceremony, where Gov. Brian Kemp and Flock CEO Garrett Langley shared their excitement for the new venture. 'In Georgia, we foster a business environment where innovative companies can get off the ground and grow into leaders in their industry while operating in safe communities,' Kemp said in a statement ahead of the event. 'Flock Safety is a great example of the success that approach has created, and we're proud to celebrate this milestone with them. We look forward to many years of partnership with Flock Safety in their efforts to help keep Georgians safe.'. At Wednesday's ribbon cutting, Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach heard how Flock plans to hire hundreds of people to work at the new facility. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The company, founded in 2017 in Georgia, is expected to create 210 new jobs over the next three years. The governor's office said the facility also represents a $10 million investment. In Smyrna, Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley said 'it's easy to see that drones are the future of law enforcement. They are safer, they are faster, they work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.' TRENDING STORIES: At least 4 tornadoes confirmed during metro Atlanta storms on Monday GA officer accused of stealing suspect's money, passport during traffic stop VIDEO: Hawks fan awkwardly slips during court Tic-Tac-Toe game, injures his knee Flock purchased drone company Aerodome in 2024 before it launched its Drone as First Responder system. Now, the Smyrna facility will produce the company's public safety tools, which includes the drone technology. It'll also refurbish damaged devices and put together solar panels. Currently, Flock Safety employs 250 positions in Georgia and 'over 300 law enforcement agencies and 100 businesses in Georgia have deployed Flock Safety's technology to solve and reduce crime.' 'We feel fortunate to have our roots in Georgia, the state that is undisputedly the leader in the American aerospace industry, and are proud to invest further by creating hundreds of advanced manufacturing and aviation jobs locally,' Langley said in a statement. 'Drone as First Responder technology stands to transform emergency response, and these made-in-America, NDAA-compliant drones will have a transformative impact on the local communities we aim to serve.' Speaking at the ribbon-cutting, Cobb County Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer spoke about how partnering with Flock has helped stop crime in the county. Cobb police have seen dramatic drops in motor auto thefts and violent armed robberies, the chief said. Last week, Channel 2 Action News reported on how Flock technology even helped police find a kidnapping suspect accused of trying to take a child from an Acworth Walmart. 'We caught homicide suspects from metro Atlanta, we seized guns we would have never seized, gang members we would have never taken into custody,' VanHoozer said. 'All for the people of Cobb County.' Hiring for the facility is already underway, the governor's office said. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
