Are police using Flock for predictive policing?

The critical account focuses on what the system does, not how it is marketed. By analyzing billions of vehicle-location records for unusual or “suspicious” movement, surfacing associates and potential witnesses, and searching broad areas for people matching descriptions, Flock can generate suspicion without a pre-existing individualized basis. Critics therefore classify these capabilities as profiling or pre-crime predictive policing, while also highlighting error, misuse, and weak oversight risks.

• Critics argue Flock has shifted from retrieving evidence about known vehicles to generating suspicion from movement patterns in the first place.
• The system can infer associations, identify potential witnesses from travel frequency, and connect vehicle data with identity and police records.
• An automated watch-list feature can continuously search cameras in a defined area for anyone matching a written description, broadening surveillance beyond a named suspect.
• Civil-liberties critics say mass location histories, algorithmic suspicion, misuse, and data-sharing create risks even when no person was initially suspected of a crime.

Featured sourceFlock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police. We Got Its Code | WIREDwired.com6 sourcesView sources