Flock AI flags movement patterns as suspicious to police
Flock Safety's license plate reader system now uses AI to automatically flag vehicles with "suspicious" movement patterns and report them to police departments. The expansion raises civil liberties concerns about algorithmic determination of suspicion and targeting of individuals based on driving behavior patterns.
What happened
In February 2025, Flock Safety announced new AI-powered capabilities for its nationwide license plate reader system, including a feature called 'Multi-State Insights' designed to alert law enforcement when vehicles are detected across multiple states.
The system's 'Investigations Manager' tool analyzes movement patterns to detect what it identifies as suspicious activity, while additional features like 'Linked Vehicles' and 'Multiple locations search' track vehicle associations and movements across locations.
Reported impact
The expansion shifts the system from passively recording vehicle movements to actively using AI to generate suspicion about individuals and flag them to police based on algorithmic analysis of driving patterns.
Index analysis
The ACLU warns that the system represents a significant expansion of mass surveillance infrastructure by enabling algorithmic determination of suspicion without human judgment, raising concerns about who gets flagged and on what basis.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.