Cops Are Using Flock to Spy on People for the Crime of Standing Around

Flock Security, a private network of cameras and license plate scanners, has been marketed as a public safety boon. However, it has become apparent that police are using the company's technology to target individuals for minor infractions such as curfew violations, loitering, and homelessness. According to records obtained from the Plano, Illinois police department, law enforcement agencies have searched Flock cameras in that town over 1,200 times while investigating these alleged offenses.

This is likely just a small fraction of the total number of "Curfew/Loitering/Vagrancy Violations" investigations conducted using Flock cameras across the nation.

The issue extends beyond Plano, with queries spanning multiple states, including Illinois, Georgia, and Tennessee. Police departments have conducted searches using data from numerous Flock camera networks, which consist of countless individual cameras monitoring anyone who moves past them. In some instances, police have even searched cameras in relation to protests or the presence of homeless individuals.

Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, describes these searches as an example of "surveillance mission creep," where the technology originally designed for specific purposes is being misused for minor infractions. Loitering and vagrancy laws have a troubling history, often being used as pretextual statutes to target Black Americans for simply being in public spaces. Some of these laws have been struck down due to their unconstitutional nature, but the potential for abuse remains high.

Flock, the company behind the surveillance network, has a self-enforced interest in using its cameras for as many purposes as possible, and it lacks self-oversight by both the police and the company itself.