buildConfirmed3 publishers Two Peel Regional Police officers visited Anthony Sistilli on September 20 over a plate-recognition camera he built to log only police vehicles. Their fear of being tracked matches drivers' fear of Flock, though his build, as reported, is one camera without Flock's shared search.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 30%
- Operator
- Operator 58%
- Investor
- Investor 12%
Reality
- Evidence45
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+12
- Incentives40
- Confidence65
North Richland Hills, a Fort Worth suburb, quoted a privacy group $2.3 million for records on how its police use Flock plate cameras. Because each Texas city prices these requests itself, whether the public can check police searches comes down to a local estimate of staff time.
Reality
- Evidence68
- Adoption20
- Hype gap+10
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence64
Flock's local camera buyers carry the risk of federal searches like CBP's 80,000-camera pilot
Customs and Border Protection accessed more than 80,000 Flock cameras in a 2025 pilot, one police department's without its knowledge. The cities and campuses that pay for the cameras are left answerable for searches they may never see.
Reality
- Evidence50
- Adoption65
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives40
- Confidence55
Flock's new plate-search safeguards leave the checking to police agencies
Flock Safety told Sen. Josh Hawley that plate searches will need a case number by year-end, on a network that scans about 20 billion plates a month. Because an emergency bypass is built in, whether the rule curbs misuse depends on agencies reading their own search logs.
Reality
- Evidence35
- Adoption30
- Hype gap+25
- Incentives65
- Confidence35
The licence plate reader company is making most of its new safeguards mandatory on 1 January, after its chief executive conceded that optional abuse controls sat unused at two-thirds of agencies.
Perspective Coverage
7 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 32%
- Operator
- Operator 47%
- Investor
- Investor 21%
Reality
- Evidence70
- Adoption35
- Hype gap+35
- Incentives70
- Confidence65
Hackers unlocked thousands of Flock detections with a key found on the camera itself
A joint 404 Media and WIRED investigation says the recovered Flock unit also ran software that detects people, and Washington DC's police union says Internal Affairs used the same plate feed to follow officers under investigation.
Reality
- Evidence42
- Adoption63
- Hype gap+28
- Incentives62
- Confidence45
MPD's Internal Affairs tracked its own sworn officers with Flock plate readers
The DC police union learned in July that Internal Affairs had been querying Flock cameras for officers under investigation. Its grievance was denied the same day the department restricted access force-wide.
Reality
- Evidence64
- Adoption58
- Hype gap+8
- Incentives72
- Confidence57
A required reason field accepted 'idk' before searching 6,474 Flock networks
EFF pulled Flock Safety's plate-reader search logs through public records requests and found 'LOL', 'LMAO' and 'sexy' entered as justifications. Flock says a dropdown of crimes improved the system.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption74
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives72
- Confidence55
Flock ran a 19,000-camera plate search for a deputy whose stated reason was 'LMAO'
EFF pulled Flock's own audit logs through public records requests and found officers logging jokes, insults and keyboard mash as their reason for license plate searches run between 2023 and late 2025.
Reality
- Evidence74
- Adoption82
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives62
- Confidence70