- Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley told Fox News the country must prioritize a compromise between privacy and safety, comparing an outright ban to banning vehicles.
- Langley urged regulators to fix data retention and officer accountability, citing a Washington Post investigation that found police departments were not auditing officer searches.
- Bipartisan lawmakers including Bernie Sanders, Tim Burchett, and Josh Hawley have introduced legislation or opened inquiries targeting Flock’s AI-powered license plate cameras.
- Flock announced it will require all law enforcement customers to enable Audit Assistance by year’s end, after a third of 7,000 agencies had voluntarily switched it on.
Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley has called for a “compromise” amid a growing bipartisan backlash against the company’s AI-powered license plate cameras, which have been vandalized nationwide and face legislation in Congress. During an interview broadcast Saturday on Fox News, Langley argued that framing the debate as a choice between privacy and safety means “prioritizing the wrong thing.”
He compared an outright ban to “banning vehicles,” a response the country rejected in favor of drunk driving laws, seatbelts, and airbags. Langley instead named two areas regulators should fix: data retention, where Flock recently cut its recommendation to seven days, and accountability for officers who abuse the system.
“The person who wants a bad cop gone first is a good cop, and 99.9% of cops are good,” he said. His remarks followed a Washington Post investigation that found at least 69 police officials accused of misusing Flock or similar plate readers, with departments rarely auditing officer searches.
Senator Bernie Sanders said he would introduce legislation to stop “AI mass surveillance,” while House Republicans led by Representative Tim Burchett have introduced a bill barring federal purchases of Flock cameras. Missouri Republican Josh Hawley has opened a separate Senate inquiry.
Meanwhile, a WIRED investigation found Flock built an AI tool that can identify drivers from movement patterns alone, with no plate needed. Langley did not dispute the report, calling AI “incredibly powerful, but also a very dangerous tool” and insisting deployment in public safety requires third-party attestation.
Flock says its technology supported over a million criminal investigations last year and helped locate more than 10,000 missing people, based on its own Impact Census. The company also announced it will require all law enforcement customers to enable Audit Assistance, a tool that flags abnormal search patterns, by the end of the year.
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