ATLANTA, July 21 — The security-technology firm Flock Safety, a private company that has woven itself into the fabric of American policing and property surveillance, now operates across more than 5,000 communities in 49 states, scanning over 20 billion vehicle plates per month. Founded in 2017 by three Georgia Tech alumni—Garrett Langley, Paige Todd, and Matt Feury—the company began as a side project, with the first cameras assembled by hand around Langley’s dining room table.
A DeKalb County detective told Langley that his product had helped solve a home break-in, and the three co-founders quit their jobs to focus on Flock full time. Today, the firm’s Falcon and Sparrow cameras photograph every passing vehicle from behind and use computer vision to read license plates and identify distinguishing features.
The data is sent to law enforcement agencies and, increasingly, to homeowner associations, neighborhood groups, and private property owners. By 2024, Flock’s fixed cameras were installed in more than 4,000 cities across 42 states, and the company employed over 900 people. It had raised a total of $950 million in venture funding, carrying a $7.5 billion valuation.
That same year, Flock acquired Aerodome, a manufacturer of law enforcement drones, and announced plans to introduce its own drone line. In 2026, the company moved its headquarters to The Medici office building in Atlanta, more than doubling its previous 14,000-square-foot space.
A Legal Landmark in Norfolk
But the expansion has not gone unchallenged. In June 2024, a Norfolk, Virginia, Circuit Court judge ruled that collecting location data from the city’s 172 Flock ALPRs constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment and cannot be used as evidence without a warrant. The opinion likened ALPR databases to tracking devices, citing the U.S. Supreme Court case United States v.
Jones. That ruling shifted the calculus for communities already uneasy about the technology.
Following the Norfolk decision, Flock faced additional pushback. Some cities stopped working with the company over concerns about data use in immigration enforcement and privacy; others cited Flock acting without city consent. Critics have described the network as mass surveillance, and the broader stakes—privacy versus public safety—remain under both litigation and public scrutiny.
Expansion Meets Scrutiny
Strategically, Flock has not slowed its commercial growth. In October 2025, it announced a partnership with Amazon’s Ring to allow residents to share video data with public safety agencies. That plan was canceled after public scrutiny and an Amazon Super Bowl ad depicting AI-enhanced pet tracking drew sharp criticism.
What this signals is a company trying to knit consumer and law-enforcement surveillance into a single fabric—and finding that the stitching attracts close attention. The company continues to market its services to police, HOAs, and private property owners.
Its efficacy and effects on privacy and civil liberties are now under sustained legal and legislative review. For policymakers and communities, the question is whether the operational benefits of billions of monthly vehicle scans can survive the constitutional and political challenges they are generating.
