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Established in 2017, Flock Safety operates over 80,000 cameras throughout the United States. This network can trigger local alerts, monitor vehicles near retail sites such as Home Depot and Lowe's, and follow a single car more than 500 times within six months. In contrast, London maintains nearly 950,000 closed-circuit units that observe daily activity around the clock, resulting in typical residents appearing on camera about 70 times each day.

Even with less extensive coverage in the United States, many people raise privacy issues. Some stem from limited knowledge of system functions, while others arise because Flock itself provides the primary details on safeguards and is not an impartial source.

Flock describes its devices as automatic license-plate readers often connected in networks to support security for neighborhoods, associations, and commercial sites. Data enters a temporary database that authorized parties can access to investigate incidents, but only after customer approval or a proper warrant. One built-in feature sends automatic alerts to law enforcement when a flagged plate appears. Police departments may also install their own units and gain full customer rights to the resulting information.

What details do Flock cameras record?

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According to the company, motion sensors trigger each unit. Six to twelve video frames are saved per event. Machine learning directs attention to the license plate along with vehicle traits such as make, model, and color. Flock states that facial recognition is not used and that the cameras are not intended to locate people or follow individuals. Still, tracking a vehicle by plate can readily indicate the likely location of its owner.

The systems also identify additional visible features beyond basic vehicle data, including roof racks and toolboxes. Further review shows that all CJIS data resides in AWS GovCloud and remains restricted to law enforcement agencies. CJIS covers criminal justice information, which includes biometric and biographical records, suggesting the cameras supply such details.

Reports indicate that Flock is developing a searchable database of individuals and providing longer video access, including live streams. This shows that vehicles are not the only items drawing interest in personal information.