WIRED: Flock Safety's 'Agentic' AI Lets Police Track Behavioral Patterns
Leaked code reveals the $7.5 billion company provides law enforcement with automated tools to link city-wide camera patterns to arrest records.
A WIRED investigation has uncovered a powerful AI-driven surveillance tool developed by Flock Safety that allows law enforcement to perform complex, automated queries across city-wide camera networks. The findings reveal a significant gap between the company's public privacy assurances and the actual capabilities of its software.
By analyzing code served from Flock's own login portals, WIRED reconstructed the interface and controls of the system. The tool functions as an "agentic" crime analyst, enabling police to search for specific behavioral patterns—such as vehicles tailing an armored truck—and instantly link those results to registered owners and arrest records. The investigation also found that the software's internal justification form for these searches has minimal requirements, verifying only that a case number contains at least three characters.
The Shift to Agentic Surveillance
Flock Safety began as a provider of automated license plate recognition (ALPR) technology but has since expanded its ambitions to create a comprehensive "public safety operating system." While ALPRs are widely used, the move toward agentic AI represents a shift from simple data collection to automated synthesis. According to Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a law professor at George Washington University, these systems are designed to preprogram natural language prompts and automated workflows for officers who cannot build their own AI tools.
This escalation in capability comes as Flock operates at a massive scale, processing approximately 20 billion plate scans per month with roughly 140,000 monthly active users. The company's growth is backed by significant venture capital from Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund, with a valuation reaching $7.5 billion in its most recent funding round.
Implications for Public Privacy
The automation of the link between vehicle tracking, registration data, and criminal records lowers the barrier for mass surveillance. By replacing manual investigative work with a natural-language AI interface, the tool enables comprehensive behavioral and identity tracking that exceeds the scope of traditional plate reading. This capability contradicts public claims that the technology cannot identify or track individuals.
Regulatory and Civic Pushback
Flock's expansion has not been without friction. The company has faced ongoing criticism from privacy advocates, and several municipalities have taken action to limit its reach. Cities including Denver have already terminated or rejected contracts with Flock, citing deep concerns over security and the erosion of privacy.
As law enforcement agencies increasingly integrate these AI-driven workflows, the focus now shifts to whether existing legal frameworks can govern tools that are, in the words of CEO Garrett Langley, "always awake, always watching out for you."