Flock Safety CEO calls for 'compromise' as backlash grows

Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley has been making the media rounds as his company faces mounting criticism over its network of surveillance cameras, drones, and license-plate recognition technology. “When people talk about just one of these, privacy or safety, they’re prioritizing the wrong thing, and what we have to prioritize as a country is compromise,” Langley said in a recent Fox News interview.

The pressure follows a Washington Post investigation that identified 46 cases in which police officers were accused of using Flock technology for unauthorized purposes, including to stalk their wives, girlfriends, or exes. After hearing an interview with one alleged victim, Langley told CBS News, “I apologize. It kills me that she went through that.” He also pushed back on the idea that Flock caused the abuse: “I don’t think that Flock created police abuse. I think we’re the first company to ever shine a light on it and build the tools to find it.”

The backlash spans the political spectrum. On the left, Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed accused opponent Mike Rogers of supporting “this mass proliferation of Flock cameras, any and everywhere, watching your every move to collect information without you even noticing,” and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders posted, “STOP AI MASS SURVEILLANCE. STOP FLOCK.” On the right, three House Republicans introduced a bill that would bar the federal government from buying automated surveillance systems using facial recognition, biometric IDs, or license-plate recognition, naming Flock Safety cameras specifically.

Flock has already made changes in response, cutting its default data-retention period from 30 days to seven and requiring a case code before data can be accessed — though both settings can be overridden, including through a mode called Evidence Mode that allows longer retention. The American Civil Liberties Union called the move “a step in the right direction” but said it fell short of its recommended 48-hour retention window, adding that whether the change is real “or just another Flock PR move” will depend on how Evidence Mode operates in practice. Langley has said state regulators should “pass bills that make [the illegal use of Flock data] a criminal offense,” while also arguing that “there’s no regulation” and “no accountability” around the technology today.

Why it matters

As it did with the data-center backlash, surveillance technology is becoming a rare issue drawing fire from both major US political parties, putting pressure on Flock to prove its safeguards work before lawmakers write rules for it.