Flock CEO Garrett Langley on license-plate surveillance, police abuse, and drones

Chapters

1. 0:00 Policy and regulation

   Flock's scale and solved-crime record

   Jason opens by framing the interview around the safety-versus-privacy trade-off. Garrett Langley says Flock started nine years ago selling license-plate cameras to neighborhoods and now works with more than 6,000 cities. The cameras capture still images of vehicles, read plates, and detect attributes like roof racks, bumper stickers, or damage; they don't capture video or use facial recognition. Flock claims over one million crimes solved and 10,000 missing people found, including a 2-year-old recovered in Atlanta after a stolen-car report. July alone produced 1,125 missing-person cases and more than 20,000 stolen vehicles.

2. 4:40 Policy and regulation

   Community adoption and retention trade-offs

   Jason asks how communities decide to install Flock and how abuse is prevented. Langley explains that city councils approve contracts after presentations, with Flock attending roughly 10,000 council meetings last year. Retention is set locally: the default was once 30 days and is now 7, while state laws range from New Jersey's 5 years to California's maximum. Langley says 90% of crimes are solved within 7 days of plate data, but the remaining 10% — delayed-discovered homicides, late-reported sexual assaults — often need 30 days or more. He argues elected officials, not vendors, should set the trade-off, and he is comfortable with cities choosing as little as 48 hours.

3. 10:57 Policy and regulation

   Privacy-by-design vs. rivals and vandalism

   Jason says becoming a parent shifted his tolerance: he accepts license-plate tracking for 30 days and uses home cameras, but draws the line at facial recognition. Langley distinguishes Flock from competitors by saying it does no facial recognition, no video, no windshield or person search, and no looking inside cars. He admits the company has communicated poorly, especially around vandalism; people cutting down cameras can face 15–20 years in prison, and he criticizes social-media activists who incite destruction without taking responsibility. He says some cities have dropped Flock based on misinformation, and that neither pure privacy nor pure safety is the correct answer.

4. 18:16 Policy and regulation

   Audit logs and catching dirty cops

   Langley says he initially trusted police but came to understand public distrust. Traditional audit logs are insufficient for agencies with 1,000 daily users, so Flock built an audit-assistance tool four months ago to flag abnormal searches. He explains that repeatedly searching one plate suggests stalking, because a legitimate investigation would place the plate on a shared hot list. The tool has already caught many bad officers, and Georgia chiefs publicly fired nine officers for abuse. Flock now requires the feature. Jason asks whether rank-and-file officers should need supervisor sign-off, and Langley says small departments don't need the same rules, but abuse is industry-wide, citing 7,000 California state-database abuses.

5. 25:09 AI and tech

   AI limits, 911 bots, and human oversight

   Jason argues that a tech vendor is now responsible for its customers' worst behavior. Langley says his view has evolved: strong defaults matter because city officials rely on chiefs, who rely on vendors. He points to Ring's Super Bowl 'find a lost dog' backlash as a lesson in moving slowly on AI. He rejects use of AI for 911 calls because hallucination risk is too high, and he rejects using plate data to define suspicion or predict crimes, citing Minority Report. He wants human-in-the-loop systems with third-party attestation, where AI helps solve more cases while reducing false arrests, but only after deliberate validation.

6. 32:54 Policy and regulation

   Cities that quit, misinformation, and Austin

   Jason notes that dozens of Flock's roughly 6,000 cities have canceled. Langley says most decisions rest on misinformation, including one city that googled 'ALPR facial recognition' and saw a competitor's website. He describes a Washington city that turned cameras off, then a child was shot and the suspect's car was caught only by a neighboring city's Flock cameras. In Austin, after cancellation, a juvenile shooting was solved by Manor's Flock cameras, reigniting the local debate; the ACLU proposes 48-hour retention. Langley says about 20 cities have already returned, and he will reject customers who won't accept accountability even if they go to more permissive competitors.

7. 39:42 Policy and regulation

   Privilege, unequal safety, and who opts in

   Jason argues that people with private security, gates, and home cameras don't need Flock, while lower-income communities most affected by crime favor it, as with stop-and-frisk era. Langley agrees: those without gates, guards, or cameras want more protection. Jason says he personally supports license-plate readers for up to 30 days but opposes a national database and facial recognition. Langley recounts an Illinois elected official who strongly opposed Flock until her house was shot at and Flock helped find the suspect, turning her into an advocate. Both conclude that victims of violence rarely choose when crime comes, and everyone wants justice afterward.

8. 45:24 Policy and regulation

   PR damage, morale, and leading on accountability

   Jason calls the past year a PR disaster and asks whether it's company-killing. Langley says the deepest damage is internal morale because Flock is criticized for things it doesn't do, but the crisis has strengthened ties to police customers. The company raised more money, still grows, and now has about 1% churn. Jason compares this to Zuckerberg's Facebook failing to get ahead of platform harms and says CEOs must anticipate viral backlash. Asked about Tucker Carlson's critical segment, Langley says he hasn't appeared on his show but is doing Today, GMA, and community-focused interviews. He says the end goal remains safety and better communication.

9. 49:34 Policy and regulation

   Drones, transparency, and regulatory gaps

   Drones are Flock's fastest-growing unit, and LPR is under 50% of forward revenue. Langley describes rooftop drone docks that launch on 911 calls; in one Dallas-area case, a drone showed a reported gun was actually a lighter, avoiding an armed response. Jason presses for third-party auditors, transparent flight logs, and strict launch limits around 911 calls. Langley says city managers can already audit logs and flight patterns through transparency portals with a lag, but state regulation is uneven — New Hampshire keeps plates for 3 minutes, Washington for 21 days — and there is no federal regulation beyond air safety. He closes by agreeing that communities should set the policy.