Flock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police. We Got Its Code
Flock Safety, the vehicle surveillance company, has developed an AI tool for police that can identify and track individuals by their driving patterns, contradicting its long-standing public claim that its technology "cannot recognise, identify, or track individuals." WIRED discovered the code for the system, previously called Nightshift and now renamed OS Investigate, exposed on Flock's own website. It matters because it marks a shift from simply matching number plates against watchlists to proactively generating suspects from patterns of ordinary, lawful movement, raising fresh constitutional and privacy concerns just as Flock faces political scrutiny and public backlash, including camera vandalism, over its existing platform.
The tool draws on a camera network spanning over 6,000 communities and comes with 69 prewritten prompts, plus the ability for officers to write custom ones. It can identify potential witnesses by counting how often a vehicle passes a location, surface a driver's "associates" from cameras they are seen with, and cross-reference plates against police case files, 911 dispatch logs and commercial databases containing names, addresses, Social Security numbers and relatives. WIRED found more than 450 related files, describing 45 tools available to the AI, openly served on Flock's login pages. Flock says the product is still in testing with a small group of law enforcement partners and may change before wider release.
- Flock built an AI police tool that identifies and tracks people via driving patterns.
- WIRED found the code, called OS Investigate, exposed on Flock's website.
- It contradicts Flock's claims and raises fresh privacy and legal concerns.
New here? Start with this
Flock Safety makes cameras and software used by police to read vehicle number plates. The system links cameras across thousands of communities, letting officers check where a vehicle has been seen and compare its plate with police records or watchlists.
The new tool is designed to search this information using questions about people’s movements and connections. It can, for example, flag vehicles that often pass a location or identify vehicles seen near one another, and it can draw on other records such as dispatch logs and commercial databases.
That expands the role of vehicle cameras from checking plates against lists to helping police look for possible suspects, witnesses or associates. It raises questions about privacy, how movement data is used, and whether people can be wrongly drawn into an investigation based on ordinary travel.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
This represents a troubling expansion of mass surveillance capability that directly contradicts Flock Safety's public assurances that its technology cannot identify or track individuals. The tool enables police to generate suspects retroactively based on ordinary, lawful driving patterns rather than following traditional investigative leads, inverting normal investigative procedure and raising fundamental constitutional concerns about Fourth Amendment protections and freedom of movement. With 6,000 communities covered and integration across multiple databases containing sensitive personal information, the system creates substantial risks of misuse, algorithmic bias, and chilling effects on lawful behaviour, concerns amplified by the tool's opacity and absence of clear legal frameworks or meaningful public oversight governing its deployment.
The case against
This tool represents a legitimate evolution of investigative capabilities that law enforcement genuinely needs to solve crimes and locate witnesses. The technology operates on vehicle data already being collected through routine number plate readers, merely adding analytical capability to help with serious cases like hit-and-runs or kidnappings. Remaining in testing with limited deployment suggests appropriate caution and iterative development, with Flock indicating substantial revision before wider release. Provided such tools operate within legal frameworks with proper warrant requirements, audit trails, and policy governance, they represent sound investigative practice—modern crime-solving requires modern analytical tools, and understanding movement patterns can be essential for efficient case development without inherently violating civil liberties.