Flock Safety, a vehicle surveillance company, has developed an AI tool called OS Investigate that can identify drivers and track vehicles based on movement patterns, according to WIRED. The system uses a network of cameras in over 6,000 communities to analyze how often cars pass through neighborhoods and identify potential witnesses or associates. The AI can also link license plate data to names, home addresses, and relatives by accessing police case files, 911 dispatch logs, and commercial identity records. The tool is designed to help law enforcement conduct searches based on location, time, and behavior without needing a license plate, name, or crime to begin with. Officers can select from 69 prewritten prompts or input their own, which are stored in a cache of over 450 files on Flock's website. The system is described as still in development and being tested with a small group of law enforcement partners. Flock claims the tool is a separate product from its license-plate reader technology, designed to assist investigators using existing data. Source: wired
The AI tool, OS Investigate, gives police access to a wide range of data, including arrest records, ballistics results, and commercial databases containing Social Security numbers, phone numbers, and email addresses. It can generate dossiers on individuals based on arrest records and map where they live, retrieving calls for service at their homes. One prompt instructs the system to list everyone arrested more than twice in two years for any offense, excluding narcotics arrests, and then map their residences and retrieve calls for service. Another prompt asks the system to find vehicles that visited multiple retail locations, banks, or gas stations within specific time frames, filtering out commercial vehicles like buses and trucks. The tool can also track travel between cities, identifying vehicles that made repeat roundtrips or passed through multiple areas in sequence. Flock did not dispute the capabilities described in the reporting, instead stating that the tool's features and workflows may change significantly before a broader release. Source: wired
Privacy and legal experts warn that Flock's tools raise serious constitutional concerns by providing police with broad, often warrantless access to people's movement data. The AI system goes beyond traditional license plate readers by allowing searches based on location, time, and behavior, potentially casting suspicion on drivers without a prior crime. Flock's public trust pages claim its technology is built for specific, case-based investigations and not for watching people. However, experts who reviewed the AI tool for WIRED say these assurances are hard to reconcile with the code's capabilities. Jay Stanley of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project noted that the system's use of AI resembles practices seen in China, with little distinction between what can be done and what is being done. Source: wired
