GoKawiilFlock, the increasingly controversial automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company, has previously highlighted at least four police departments on its YouTube page that have since faced allegations of misusing the company’s technology.
The company featured the Savannah Police Department in a March 2022 YouTube video. Four officers and two workers from the department were recently placed on administrative leave after an internal investigation found “potential misuses” of Flock’s ALPR system. Also in Georgia, the Albany Police Department was the subject of a glossy 2024 video. Five officers from the department were recently arrested and charged in connection to their alleged misuse of the technology.
Flock also highlighted the Sandy Springs Police Department in a 2020 video about how the company was helping police combat so-called porch pirates. Last year, a Sandy Springs Police Department officer was terminated amid an internal investigation into alleged misuse of Flock’s technology. The Baytown Police Department was featured in Flock’s 2025 video about responding to a carjacking; last week, a Baytown police officer resigned amid ongoing investigations into alleged misuse of the technology.
Allegations of ALPR misuse have plagued police departments across the country, including in states like Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin. In Georgia alone—home to the Savannah, Albany, and Sandy Springs police departments—allegations of ALPR misuse have also been reported at the sheriff’s offices of Coweta County, Cherokee County, Habersham County, and Richmond County.
While these incidents show that police departments have mechanisms to detect and address ALPR misuse, Flock's promotional materials show that it can occur even at departments that were touted as exemplary.
Got a Tip? Are you a current or former Flock employee who wants to talk about what’s happening? We’d like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter securely on Signal at carolinehaskins.61.
In response to WIRED’s request for comment, Flock spokesperson Paris Lewbel emphasized that “misuse was identified and addressed.” He said that incidents of misuse shouldn’t discount Flock’s usefulness to police departments.
“That is exactly why accountability tools and internal review processes exist,” Lewbel said in an emailed statement. “When improper use is detected, agencies can investigate, take action, and hold individuals accountable. That should be viewed as evidence that oversight mechanisms are working, not as a sign that the entire department or city should be broadly condemned.”
The Flock YouTube channel’s video about the Albany Police Department features interviews with senior crime and intelligence analyst David Sparks, whom Flock recognized as a “Power Partner” in 2024, and chief Michael J. Persley. In it, Sparks describes Flock as a crucial tool for fighting “property crime” and “crimes of opportunity.”
“To ensure that the community trusts us, there are a lot of things we have to do, and the first part of building that trust is open, honest transparency and communication,” Persley says in the video. “So I'm not trying to listen to your conversations, I'm not trying to see what's happening in your backyard. We wanna make sure that you're safe.”
... continue reading