By Steven Symes 
Back in 2020 during all the pandemic shutdowns, Flock cameras started appearing at the entrance to every housing development in the city where I lived. Knowing an employee of the police department, I asked what was going on and was proudly told the department put up the cameras so if anyone commits a crime in the neighborhoods, investigators will know who it was.
Man fires gun into the air out of a Lamborghini as part of a wedding procession.
At the time this made me incredibly uneasy. Mass surveillance in the name of community security isn’t something new, but AI-driven technologies like Flock cameras are making it easier than ever to conduct.
That’s the push of a scathing new report recently published by Forbes. We’re covered stories involving Flock cameras used to track down stolen cars or suspects, and things don’t always go so well. But something even more insidious is allegedly going on behind the scenes.
Already, Flock has tens of thousands of cameras up in 49 states. Chances are you drive past one on the regular, even if you don’t realize it. That means your license plate is read and fed into the tech company’s database, all for your community’s safety.
But as Forbes says in its report, Flock is about to turn a corner this fall. Law enforcement agencies and other clients of the service will be able to get video footage of when a specific vehicle was recorded by a camera.
While that could be a tremendous help for police as they hunt for a suspect or work to solve a crime, these types of technologies are often double-edged swords. Like any tool, the cameras can be used for good or ill.
Not to be outdone, Axon Enterprise, which has been a dominant force in police bodycams, is getting in on the market niche after a schism with Flock.
Thanks to the market rivalry, Flock is pushing ahead with plans to offer gunshot detection devices, drones, and Nova. That last one is software which mines data from police databases, helping law enforcement to make connections in investigations.
It wasn’t that long ago science fiction movies and books talked about mass surveillance by authoritarian governments under the guise of keeping the populace safe. We’re not saying that’s happening now, but the potential for things to take a turn in the direction is alarming.
Images via Flock Safety