How Police Are Abusing AI Systems
The short version: 911Activity's roundup of AI misuse by police is a reminder that unchecked automated surveillance, including ALPR networks like Flock, needs real oversight.
Our Take
The channel 911Activity put together a rundown of cases where AI tools handed to police departments went sideways, and while the examples vary, the pattern doesn't. Departments adopt powerful automated systems first and figure out the guardrails later, if ever. That's the exact same story we've been tracking with license plate readers: a technology gets sold to a city council as a narrow crime-fighting tool, then quietly expands into a always-on tracking network with almost no public input.
What makes videos like this useful is that they force the question civil liberties advocates keep asking and city officials keep dodging: who audits the algorithm, who reviews the data retention, and who's accountable when the system gets it wrong or gets misused for something it was never approved for. Flock Safety's ALPR cameras raise the same red flags — vague policies, minimal public oversight, and a growing appetite among police to plug that data into other AI systems, from facial recognition to predictive policing dashboards. Once these networks exist, mission creep isn't a hypothetical, it's the default.
Credit to 911Activity for keeping a spotlight on this. If you want to see how far this kind of automated surveillance has spread near you, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back on it in your own community, our take-action guide has concrete steps to start with.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 911Activity., published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.