Do Flock cameras use facial recognition? Watch the full segment on MetroNews Television.
The short version: A MetroNews Television segment asks the question every driver should: do Flock's cameras actually do facial recognition, and the murky answer is the real story.
Our Take
Credit to MetroNews Television for putting this question on the air, because "does it do facial recognition" is exactly the kind of thing Flock Safety would rather you not dwell on. The company's official line is that its ALPR cameras read plates, not faces. But that framing conveniently sidesteps the bigger issue: these cameras still capture vehicle make, color, bumper stickers, dents, and driver/passenger images well enough to build a detailed travel profile on anyone who passes by, facial recognition or not.
Whether or not a given deployment technically runs face-matching software, the broader surveillance apparatus behaves the same way — data gets pooled into a searchable, shareable network that law enforcement agencies across jurisdictions can query, often with little public oversight into who's looking, why, or how long it's kept. "No facial recognition" is a technical distinction that shouldn't be mistaken for "no privacy concern."
If a segment like this makes you wonder what's actually watching your street, go check our map to see documented camera locations near you, and if you want to push back on unchecked deployments in your town, our take-action page has concrete next steps.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of MetroNews Television, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.