Summary
- Flock Safety has developed OS Investigate, an AI tool that provides law enforcement with access to vehicle scans, arrest records, and commercial databases, using 69 predefined prompts.
- According to Wired, 41 of these prompts do not require special permissions, while 14 can be executed without a license plate, name, or description—only requiring a location, time frame, and observed behavior.
- One of the prompts identifies a vehicle's "associates" based on the frequency with which other cars appear at the same cameras within two minutes, contradicting Flock's claim of not tracking individuals.
Flock Safety, a company known for its camera systems that monitor vehicles in over 6,000 communities across the U.S., has introduced an artificial intelligence tool capable of tracking drivers through their movements alone.
This revelation was made in a Wired report after the publication examined the system's code, which was accessible from Flock's own website.
The software, initially named Nightshift but now called OS Investigate, is still undergoing development and is being tested with a limited group of law enforcement agencies, according to the company.
Officers can either select from a list of 69 scripted prompts or create their own queries. One of these prompts identifies "witnesses" as the vehicles that have been spotted most frequently in a particular area over the past two weeks.
Another prompt retrieves records of individuals arrested more than twice in two years, excluding drug offenses, and compiles detailed profiles on the top three offenders. A separate function allows an officer to input a name and birth date to generate a list of relatives, contact numbers, and online profiles based on police and commercial data.
Notably, 14 prompts do not require a license plate, name, or description at all. Officers simply provide a location, a time frame, and a behavior pattern—such as vehicles visiting three retail locations in three days—and the system identifies matching individuals. A filter is in place to exclude buses and delivery vans, ensuring that regular drivers involved in such activities remain in the results.
The system's logic for identifying associates is detailed in the code, which tracks how often other license plates appear at the same cameras within a two-minute window of a target vehicle, flagging any that appear three or more times with a confidence score above 0.75, and returning up to 20 names.
Noel Pichardo, a former police officer from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, expressed his concerns in the Wired article, stating, "I don't know how else to say this, but this sounds completely insane. I don't know how anyone can argue against the idea that Flock literally tracks people."
Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the ACLU, noted that the disparity between the capabilities of Flock's technology and its current applications leaves "very little space... like China."
Flock has maintained that its technology "cannot recognize, identify, or track individuals" and is "not for watching people." Spokesperson Paris Lewbel emphasized that OS Investigate is a distinct product from their license plate readers, intended to assist investigators using existing records, and stated that its features may undergo significant changes before broader release. The company did not refute Wired's findings.
Public backlash has already manifested, with activists vandalizing Flock cameras across the nation in June and July; The Guardian reported at least 33 incidents across 23 states. This discontent correlates with instances of police misusing the network, as a report from the Institute for Justice indicated numerous cases of officers resigning or being arrested for allegedly using license plate readers to stalk former or current partners.
The controversy has reached Congress, where Rep. Thomas Massie's proposed legislation aims to block federal funding for agencies utilizing this technology.
Researchers have even created AI-generated patterns designed to confuse the plate-reading software, and Flock is not the only company pushing the envelope; Meta has patented technology for cameras that can recognize faces and track individuals' actions.