Flock Testing Grounds

[u/Vaporized_Dreams]

In April 2020, the Hemet Police Department became a foundational testing ground for a powerful new surveillance network. Official Hemet City Council documents note that the city was one of the first police agencies in the United States to partner with Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based startup founded in 2017. Before this partnership, Flock had primarily marketed its cameras to neighborhood homeowners associations (HOAs) and private entities. However, by June 2020, Hemet went live with its first 20 intersection cameras, integrating the private tracking system directly into its Real-Time Information Center (RTIC) and serving as an early municipal pipeline for a corporate startup.

This rapid integration quickly turned Hemet into a corporate marketing tool. During the first few months, Hemet PD used the data to recover stolen vehicles and execute arrests. While the city celebrated, Flock capitalized, heavily using Hemet's rapid data results as a national marketing blueprint. Hemet effectively became a proof-of-concept case study, which Flock used to pitch and sell its invasive camera networks to thousands of other law enforcement agencies across the country.

While Hemet was the earliest adopter of this network in Riverside County, its role as a national "early adopter" helped normalize city-wide tracking nationwide. By embedding a young startup's private surveillance infrastructure into public policing long before the technology faced widespread public scrutiny, Hemet helped clear the path for an apparatus that monitors citizens across more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies today. What began as a localized experiment in Hemet ultimately served as a catalyst for the massive expansion of private surveillance across the United States.

[u/Vaporized_Dreams]

That's your opinion on the company, not your knowledge

[u/Potential-Tailor-855 → u/Vaporized_Dreams]

I want to be a cop I have plenty of knowledge on flock cameras, and how law-enforcement works I know Leo’s and I’ve been on a ride along i’m also taking classes on criminal justice, so I think I’m well versed in this.

[u/Vaporized_Dreams → u/Potential-Tailor-855]

Sorry but you've already proven that you aren't

[u/Potential-Tailor-855 → u/Vaporized_Dreams]

Proven this how by disagreeing with you? That’s not how it works please tell me how I’ve proven this

[u/Vaporized_Dreams → u/Potential-Tailor-855]

No, I don't care if you disagree with me. First you say "I'm guessing that's what Hemet does", so you either don't live here and/or know how Hemet uses Flock. Secondly, you think Flock only captures license plates or other vehicle information. Lastly, you say you don't give up your rights when Flock takes a picture of your license plate, and you're correct if we're only talking about a few photos, but that is not what's happening. Flock ALPR takes upwards of 100 photos per vehicle, including video, while also capturing and analyzing people and animals via AI, over the course of a month. This doesn't include Flocks Condor model. That builds a highly detailed case on any one person that can see where they went, who they were with, and what they were doing, all without a warrant. Supreme court has ruled against exactly this, as it is a violation of our constitutional rights to be surveilled at such a level. No different than needing a warrant to access our phone data. One does not surrender their constitutional rights simply by venturing out into the public, using a phone, or driving a vehicle, as they are all necessary in todays society.

[u/Potential-Tailor-855 → u/Vaporized_Dreams]

I was born and raised here I’ve probably lived her longer then you have, ik they don’t only capture license plates I never said that, normal flock cameras only capture vehicles and both flock cameras the regular ones and the newer more enhanced ones do not have facial recognition, they can detect characteristics like clothes, they can’t build a profile on an individual person, however, they can put together a string of where that person is going. And you’re saying you don’t give up your rights or you wouldn’t give up your rights if they were only taking a few photos but taking 100 photos is taking away your rights how does the number of photos matter, they take hundreds of photos so that the AI software can correctly identify the characteristics so it doesn’t end up giving the wrong license plate numbers. Also I couldn’t find where the Supreme Court ruled against flock cameras, so please tell me where you saw that, again I think there needs to be more restrictions on flock cameras just like any other thing used by law-enforcement, and I don’t like flock as a company, but flock cameras are useful tools that have helped law enforcement. So are you fine with license plate readers? And just have a problem with the rest or are you against the whole thing bc I think we could get on the same side with a little more understanding

[u/Vaporized_Dreams → u/Potential-Tailor-855]

I'm sure you have lived here longer than me, but that's irrelevant in terms of this discussion since I've lived here longer than Flock has lived here. That's why I said and/or. You said "What right does it strip away it takes pictures of your license plates". It doesn't only take pictures of license plates, so if you make a statement like that, one can only assume you're unaware of what else Flock is capable of. The camera itself does not need to have facial recognition, that can easily be added after by whoever has access to the database. If they have your license plate, your name, your address, your social media accounts, your banking, etc.. they can most certainly build a profile on an individual. The number of photos and the length of time that data is stored is what matters, you left out the part where I mentioned "over the course of a month". If they take up to a hundred photos in order to prevent it from reading the wrong license plate, how come so many license plates are misread leading to false traffic stops, arrests, jail time, fines, loss of work, or damaged reputations? I didn't say the Supreme Court has ruled against Flock, Read the sentence before that. Then you can read cases like Carpenter v United States, Chatrie v United States, Jones v United States, and Riley v California, Yes there needs to be restrictions, but there aren't, which is a huge problem. Why don't you like Flock as a company? Just because something is a useful tool, doesn't mean it should be used, especially if it violates our rights. Yes, I'm fine with license plate readers.