Flock Safety, the Atlanta-based startup valued at $7.5 billion, is facing a wave of criticism and vandalism as scrutiny grows over how its automated license plate reader cameras are being used and misused across the country.
The company has deployed between 80,000 and 110,000 of its cameras nationwide, with roughly a third of the country’s 18,000 law enforcement agencies using the system to track vehicles by license plate. The rapid expansion has made Flock one of the most widely used surveillance tools in American policing.
Vandalism targeting the cameras has spread in recent weeks, fueled partly by viral social media content. Videos showing methods for damaging the devices, including with electric saws, paint and vehicle ramming, have circulated online, with one video demonstrating destruction techniques drawing 11.8 million views on TikTok.
Separately, police departments in at least 12 states, including Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, have faced accusations that officers misused the Flock system to track romantic partners or relatives rather than for legitimate law enforcement purposes.
Privacy and immigration advocates have also raised alarms about the system’s data being accessed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation efforts, a concern that has prompted dozens of cities to cut ties with Flock or reconsider their contracts with the company.
Road-safety advocates have separately warned that the physical camera installations themselves can pose risks to drivers depending on placement, adding another dimension to the criticism facing the company.
Flock has not detailed how it plans to respond to the vandalism trend or the misuse allegations, though the company’s rapid growth and high valuation reflect how central automated license plate readers have become to modern policing, even as the backlash over privacy and abuse concerns intensifies.
