Flock Safety’s new search tools give police multiple ways to locate individuals on camera, beyond just license plates. The system, now central to numerous police-stalking cases, allows officers to run continuous automated searches for people matching written descriptions in specific city areas. WIRED analyzed the software and created a mockup of what officers see when interacting with the system.
Flock has faced backlash over its technology, with police departments canceling contracts and city councils removing cameras. Two members of Congress wrote to CEO Garrett Langley after a Texas deputy used the system to search over 83,000 cameras for a woman who had an abortion. Illinois also found the company allowed federal immigration agents access to state camera data, violating state law. Flock responded with changes, including shorter data retention, mandatory case codes for searches, and automated auditing to detect misuse.
Experts say Flock’s AI system performs a task no technology does reliably, as it decides which descriptions of a person an officer may search for, without oversight. The company itself warns officers that results may be inaccurate or incomplete and should not be relied on alone, but places the risk of inaccuracies on the officer running the search. Some decisions, like allowing searches based on political and cultural expression, are harder to defend than others.
Source: wired
