Flock Safety Tests AI Tool to Identify Drivers by Behavior and Physical Traits

Flock Safety is testing a new AI-powered surveillance tool that enables law enforcement to identify and track individuals based on driving patterns and physical descriptions. The software, known as OS Investigate, marks a significant shift from traditional license plate recognition toward behavioral analysis.

According to reporting from Engadget, OS Investigate allows officers to search for people within a mapped area without needing a name or a license plate. The system can cross-reference vehicle movement data with commercial identity records, police case files, and 911 dispatch logs to uncover names, addresses, and relatives. To facilitate these searches, the software features a chatbot interface with pre-loaded prompts, such as identifying vehicles most frequently seen in a specific neighborhood during a set timeframe. Flock Safety is currently testing the product with select law enforcement partners and maintains that OS Investigate is a separate product from its standard Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology.

The Surveillance Landscape

Flock Safety is already a dominant provider of ALPR technology, operating a camera network across 6,000 communities. However, the company has faced significant legal challenges and public backlash over mass surveillance. Previous reports have highlighted instances of police officers using the existing camera network to spy on individuals or stalk former partners. While Flock previously implemented safeguards, such as requiring case codes for searches, the introduction of OS Investigate expands the scope of what the company's technology can monitor.

Implications for Privacy

Critics argue that this technology transforms police work from identifying known suspects to conducting broad "fishing expeditions." By searching for criminal patterns rather than specific vehicles, law enforcement can effectively monitor behavior across entire populations. Chad Marlow, an attorney for the ACLU, warned that the lack of limitations on the chatbot's prompts allows officers to lead the AI toward specific results. "The difference between a police officer saying, 'Do you see any criminal patterns' or 'Find me criminal patterns' is going to produce two different things," Marlow said, noting that this flexibility could increase false positives and violate privacy rights on a mass scale.

Future Outlook

As Flock Safety continues its pilot programs, the industry will be watching whether the company introduces stricter prompt limitations or oversight mechanisms to prevent abuse. Former police officer Noel Pichardo described the capability to track people in this manner as "completely insane." It remains to be seen if the tool will face the same legal hurdles as Flock's ALPR systems or if it will become a standard fixture in municipal policing.