Flock Safety’s New Surveillance Audit Tool Faces Transparency Hurdles

The company’s "Audit Assistance" tool, which tracks atypical search patterns, will be mandatory for all law enforcement clients by year-end. Flock claims the system flags suspicious activity—such as repetitive license plate queries—for administrative review. Despite these promises, the company has declined to detail the underlying logic, whether it relies on predictive algorithms, or its rate of false positives. Flock maintains the feature is a standard data-filtering tool rather than a complex AI model.

Skepticism remains high among privacy advocates. Chad Marlow of the American Civil Liberties Union warned that without independent audits, the tool risks becoming mere window dressing. He noted that while the system may catch some misuse, the lack of public data makes it impossible to determine if it identifies a significant portion of violators or merely a fraction. Cooper Quintin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation added that technical safeguards are insufficient if internal police culture lacks accountability, suggesting that legal mandates and warrant requirements are the only true deterrents against surveillance overreach.

This policy shift follows a string of high-profile scandals, including the recent arrest of three Georgia sheriff’s deputies accused of using the platform to stalk individuals. While the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office credited the audit tool with uncovering that specific misuse, privacy experts argue that anecdotal success does not substitute for rigorous, transparent oversight.