Flock Credibility Lost as It Repeatedly Lies to City Councils, Police, & Public
The city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, revoked a contract with Flock Safety after discovering the company lied about its license plate reader's ability to create movement heat maps. The incident highlights concerns over corporate transparency and surveillance technology capabilities.
Why it matters
It underscores the tension between law enforcement surveillance tools and the need for public accountability and honest disclosure from tech vendors.
During a city council meeting in a suburb of Wisconsin in April, the city of Oshkosh considered whether it should approve a contract to use automatic license plate readers (ALPR) from Flock Safety, a prominent company that provides ALPRs to law enforcement agencies across the country. During the meeting, one city council member asked Flock if the company’s ALPR system created heat maps that could reveal where a particular vehicle had driven over a period of time. Flock’s chief information security officer, who was in attendance, told the council that Flock’s system did not “ create a pattern or heat map of an individual’s movement ” through the tracking of their vehicles. At the end of that meeting, the Oshkosh City Council approved a contract with Flock. The very next morning, the city learned that Flock had lied .
The framing focuses on corporate dishonesty and government oversight, which is a common theme in tech-critical reporting.
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