“One searchable platform:” this AI surveillance company wants facial recognition added to Flock

VIDIZMO, an AI surveillance company, says that combining Flock features and facial recognition technology could turn it into a “one searchable platform” useful for police forces.

While Flock is best known for a license plate reader that can identify a car’s model, color, and license plate, it’s not used directly to identify drivers.

Flock Security stated that it doesn’t use facial recognition and isn’t planning to do so.

However, this doesn’t stop other companies from suggesting services that could combine Flock data with facial recognition technology.

VIDIZMO sent a proposal for such a service to Michael Adams, deputy police chief of Johnson City, Tennessee.

The company has been contacting the police forces to offer facial recognition technology for the past 6 months, according to 404 Media.

Closing the gap

“Flock Safety generates plate reads and clips continuously. Your investigators use that data on active cases. But that Flock data does not connect automatically to your Axon evidence system,” the email to the Johnson City police department (PD) read.

The proposal refers to Axon Evidence, the company that provides law enforcement, public safety agencies, and legal teams with an AI-powered digital evidence management system for capturing, reviewing, and disclosing evidence.

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“VIDIZMO Intelligence Hub closes that gap,” continues the email, revealing that the platform would allow its users to find data from body camera footage, Flock Safety data, or “any other evidence source.”

The email also added that the platform could be used for simultaneous search, “by face, vehicle, or object.”

No response to the proposal

The Johnson City PD told 404 Media that it didn’t respond to the proposal.

Despite the company already advertising this capability online, VIDIZMO CEO Nadeem Khan said it hadn’t yet begun using Flock data for its facial recognition technology and didn’t have a tool to export Flock data to its own platform.

Khan is still in favor of going through with this integration, believing that it “is the way the world is going, the way the world will have to be.”

Because of this, Flock should already include facial recognition capability with privacy, security, and freedom in mind, he suggested.

VIDIZMO’s website claims that the company already works with some government agencies and police departments.

The company’s documents revealed that once a police department adds a person’s face to its software library, that person can be identified when detected by a camera. The company also shared that it can classify faces according to age, gender, and race.

Backlash against Flock

While Flock cameras were installed across the US to scan license plates and alert police to suspicious vehicles, the system has sparked backlash over unwarranted surveillance.

Several websites allowing users to check whether there are Flock Safety’s Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras in their area have been launched as a result.

It’s been reported that the system was abused to spy on people.

Laurie Moore, a senior investigator with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, was arrested after it was revealed that she was accused of using Flock to conduct 4,000 unauthorized searches, which involved checking her girlfriend’s car.

Given the ongoing abuse, US lawmakers introduced the No FLOCK Act, which limits how the system can be used.

However, given how people view Flock and examples showing how its systems can be abused, multiple cities in the US have decided to cancel their contracts with Flock.

Since 2021, 214 cities and towns have removed Flock, with 90 of them canceling the service in August 2026 alone.