Vehicle surveillance firm Flock Safety has developed an AI tool for police that identifies drivers and tracks vehicles based on movement patterns alone—a significant expansion from its license plate recognition roots that contradicts prior public statements that its technology "cannot recognize, identify, or track individuals."
The system, recently renamed OS Investigate from Nightshift, draws on Flock's network of cameras across more than 6,000 communities. Officers can search for individuals within a defined area using a physical description alone, without needing a known plate, name, or existing crime. The tool can also identify a driver's "associates" by detecting vehicles passing through cameras together.
OS Investigate integrates with police case files, 911 dispatch logs and commercial identity records, converting license plate data into names, home addresses and relatives' information. The underlying code reveals 45 distinct tools accessing plate scans, camera metadata, arrest records, case files, dispatch logs, ballistics results and commercial databases containing Social Security numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses and details on relatives and associates.
The software comes with 69 prewritten prompts officers can choose, review or modify before submitting to the AI, with options to input custom prompts. Over 450 files related to the system were accessible via Flock's login pages.
Flock Safety's original business was straightforward: cameras photograph passing vehicles, convert plates to text and check them against police watch lists. Cars not flagged were recorded but otherwise disregarded. OS Investigate inverts that model—officers can initiate searches based solely on location, timeframe and behavioral patterns without an initial suspect.
Flock Safety said it is testing OS Investigate with a limited number of law enforcement partners and described the product as still in development, noting final capabilities may differ from the current state. The company faces bipartisan political pressure, a documented history of officers misusing its platform and widespread vandalism in U.S. cities where cameras have been disabled.
