Flock Mandates 'Audit Assistance' Tool Amid Surveillance Abuse Concerns

Surveillance startup Flock is requiring all law enforcement customers to enable a tool called “Audit Assistance” by the end of the year, according to reporting from TechCrunch. The tool is designed to detect abnormal activity and flag it for administrator review, with the ability to automatically lock out flagged users until an administrator intervenes.

Flock recently announced several policy shifts to curb system abuse, including recommending that police departments reduce data retention from 30 days to seven. The company also introduced “Evidence Mode” for exceptional cases requiring longer retention and allowed customers to limit data sharing based on the type of investigation.

While Flock co-founder Paige Todd and head of trust and compliance Ashley Haber described the tool as a way to identify unusual patterns—such as repetitive searches of the same license plate—the company has not provided detailed technical explanations of how the tool works. Major Patrick Krieg of the Dunwoody, Georgia Police Department referred to it as an algorithm that notifies the department of bias. However, Flock told TechCrunch the tool is not based on AI or machine learning, but is a data tool that flags atypical search patterns, such as using multiple case codes for one plate.

Despite Bibb County Sheriff David Davis crediting the tool with helping uncover a case where three former deputies were arrested for stalking, critics remain skeptical. Chad Marlow of the American Civil Liberties Union stated there is no evidence the tool works consistently, while Rachel Levinson-Waldman of the Brennan Center noted the tool needs to be audited. Cooper Quintin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation told TechCrunch that the tool may act as a "fig leaf" if the reporting structure remains within the same agency committing the abuse.