Flock CEO Garrett Langley said that his company has not ended any contracts with its customers over abuse of its products. Speaking to TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos at the Disrupt 2026 conference in San Francisco, Langley responded to criticisms facing the company about the misuse of its license plate reader cameras by police departments. It comes after streams of reporting identifying dozens of police officers who have been arrested, fired, or told to resign after being caught abusing access to Flock’s nationwide database of license plate detections, oftentimes to stalk people without permission.
Langley told Loizos that the company would end a relationship with a customer where there was clear widespread abuse of its systems. But, the CEO said, it has not to date “fired” a customer, as he put it, such as a police department or law enforcement agency. Langley said Flock had the debate internally, but argued that the company should not take away its product from a community that might need it in its efforts to fight crime.
That’s very easy,” Langley said. The abuse of Flock’s systems and the data it collects is the latest in an array of controversies embroiling the Atlanta, Georgia-based maker of license plate reader cameras. Flock has more than 100,000 cameras around the United States, which allow local police departments and federal agencies to track the whereabouts of vehicle license plates and people as they pass by.
By allowing its law enforcement customers to track license plates outside of their jurisdictions, some police departments can track cars across the entire country through Flock’s national central database. Flock has become a flashpoint in the surveillance debate, prompting towns, cities, and communities to reject the company’s cameras by canceling their contracts or allowing them to expire, citing privacy fears. There have been multiple reports of Flock reactivating cameras against their customers’ wishes, prompting local residents to tape trash bags over the cameras and other times destroying them.
While Langley spoke on the Disrupt stage, demonstrators gathered outside the venue to protest against Flock’s AI-powered surveillance, wearing costumes like the red robes from “The Handmaid’s Tale” and cardboard replicas of Flock cameras on their heads, while clips from the “1984” movie played on a loudspeaker behind them. Others carried signs declaring “Flock off,” or “Flock = ICE.” Flock does not have a direct contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but the agency has reportedly accessed Flock data in the past by collaborating with local police departments that use Flock cameras.
Ashley Ortiz, an organizer with local progressive activist group The Wolves, told TechCrunch that she wants local lawmakers to take constituents’ concerns about Flock more seriously. He offered anecdotes, such as a stolen car with a baby in the back seat being found quickly thanks, he said, to Flock systems. Still, Flock has also faced criticism for cybersecurity issues, and camera accuracy issues that have resulted in dozens of police stops and wrongful arrests, including a journalist who was driving a review vehicle.
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