TL;DR
Flock publicly markets its cameras as harmless static image tools for solving crimes, but in training webinars it teaches police to use its system for round-the-clock surveillance of protests and daily life — its real pitch is far more invasive than its public image suggests.
The surveillance company Flock ran a webinar last year, teaching cops how to monitor a 'No Kings' protest with its system. In public, Flock says its cameras just snap license plates and help solve crimes — but behind closed doors, it was showing officers how to pull cameras, drones, gunshot detectors and 911 calls into one screen and watch a protest without leaving the station.
In the session, marketing director Caity Peak walks through a dashboard of Denver: live traffic, floor plans of nearby buildings, feeds from street and shop cameras. She says the point is to monitor protests without having officers on the ground, which might 'make things worse and draw attention.'
Everyday life under one pane of glass
During the 'No Kings' protests of 2025, police were already running Flock searches on attendees; California cops used it to watch an immigration rally. Flock teaches this as a core skill, not a rare exception.
A traffic stop that digs up your whole life
Flock also showed off a search-engine-like feature: type 'alert me to any car with multi-coloured wheels tonight' and the system watches for you. It can combine plate data with personal records, IP addresses, emails, sex offender lists and social media — one query pulls up a person's name, address, phone and affiliations. 'It works like a Google Search,' Peak says.
The demo even noted that if a driver is found to have been involved in a sideshow in the last 90 days, that is enough justification to tow the car for 90 days instead of just writing a ticket.
In short, Flock's real product is a real-time surveillance operating system for police, not the harmless plate-reading gadget it describes in public.
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