As Flock faces backlash, rival surveillance companies move to win police contracts

Flock Safety’s growing backlash is creating an opening for rival companies that sell automated license plate readers and other surveillance tools to law enforcement agencies.

The Atlanta-based company has become a central target of privacy advocates and local organizers who oppose the spread of cameras that record vehicle movements. In recent months, communities have deactivated cameras, rejected proposed deals or canceled contracts, according to the crowdsourced database DeFlock.

The controversy has also increased attention on competitors, including Axon, Motorola Solutions and Verkada, which offer similar license plate reader products. Some cities that moved away from Flock have signed replacement agreements with competing vendors, including Axon.

Automated license plate readers capture images of vehicles and convert information such as license plates, vehicle color, make and model into searchable data. Flock says its technology helps investigators locate vehicles connected to crimes. Its platform can also allow police agencies to search data collected beyond their own jurisdictions, a feature that has become a major focus of criticism.

Privacy advocates say the issue extends beyond one company. Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told NPR that replacing Flock cameras with another vendor may leave the underlying surveillance concerns unchanged. The technology can create detailed records of where vehicles travel, critics say, while allowing information to be shared across agencies and jurisdictions.

Flock has faced additional scrutiny over reports that officers used automated license plate reader systems to stalk women and over cases in which data was shared more broadly than local communities expected, including with federal immigration authorities. The company announced changes last week intended to address those concerns, including a shorter data-retention period and additional safeguards around local searches. The American Civil Liberties Union said the changes did not go far enough.

Flock Chief Executive Garrett Langley has defended the company’s approach and said he is not worried about competitors taking its customers. In comments reported by NPR, Langley said Flock had added seven times as many new customers as the number it lost this year.

Axon, best known for body cameras, Tasers and digital evidence systems, has been more direct about the opportunity. Chief Executive Rick Smith told investors during the company’s most recent earnings call that a significant number of law enforcement agencies were seeking to switch from existing license plate reader providers to Axon. He attributed the interest in part to what he described as Axon’s controls and privacy practices.

Axon declined to disclose how much new business it had gained from canceled Flock contracts. The company has also held multimillion-dollar contracts with the Department of Homeland Security for products including body cameras and Tasers, a point Langley cited while questioning Denver’s decision to sign a one-year agreement with Axon after residents raised concerns about immigration-related data sharing.

The debate reflects a broader expansion of police surveillance technology. License plate readers are increasingly used alongside facial recognition, gunshot detection, drones, predictive-policing tools and real-time crime centers that combine information for investigators.

That broader system has received less public attention than Flock’s cameras, even as privacy experts warn that integrated surveillance platforms can create more extensive records about people’s movements and associations. For communities evaluating whether to keep or replace Flock, the question may therefore be less about which company supplies the cameras and more about what limits should govern the technology in the first place.