Flock CEO Says Its Microphones Only Detect "Gunshots." Its Website Says Otherwise
Langley's Remarks Come Amid Growing Scrutiny of Flock by Privacy Advocates, Including the ACLU, and Members of the Public Concerned About Misuse of Its Technology.
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Flock CEO Garrett Langley said the company's bullet-detection microphones "only detect gunshots," but Flock's website paints a much broader picture of what other ambient sounds are picking up.
Speaking on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, the surveillance company's co-founder defended Flock's audio suite product, Gunshot Detection, which listens to gunshots and other environmental sounds in nearby neighborhoods to provide "early awareness" of potential public safety events.
Flock's website says the company's audio systems can instantly pinpoint gunfire, while also being able to "early detect street takeovers to stop chaos before it escalates" and "detect severe crashes in real-time so help arrives faster." It also says they can spread awareness beyond shootings by warning of car crashes, fireworks and sideshows.
The company's bullet detection feature, announced last year, met with immediate backlash. In announcing the feature, Flock said the technology listens for "screaming" sounds. Privacy groups condemned the company for listening to human voices, prompting the company to modify its website to say "human distress sounds" instead. Flock later said he got the ability to diagnose "discomfort" in general from his customers who tried it.
At length in the interview, Tollengley disputed what he described as misinformation about its product, arguing that many of its critics misunderstand how its products work. The comments come as public opinion continues to shift against Flock and other license plate reader companies amid growing public concern about mass surveillance. The sentiment was visible in San Francisco, where protesters gathered outside the venue as Langley took the stage.
"Most people don't call 911 when they hear gunshots, and that's why we built the product," Langley told TechCrunch editor Connie Loizos on stage. And then some of our customers said, "Oh, we have these in the parking lots. That would be great if someone was getting kidnapped or someone was hurt."
Langley said the idea seemed logical, so the company built a prototype, took it to a few customers, but said some people had a lot of concerns at the time. Langley admits he makes mistakes but listens to his customers.
"There's just a couple of customers that prototype it with us, and we're like, 'Great, it just shoots, plain and simple,'" Langley said.
When asked about the discrepancy between his statement and the company's marketing materials, which say audio systems can detect more than gunshots, he replied: "It's just gunshots."
"Flock's bullet detection technology is primarily used to detect gunshots, but can also detect fireworks, sideshows and potential car crashes," said Flock spokeswoman Chesa Paris Lobel. CEO Garrett Langley's comments were to emphasize that Flock's technology was not designed to detect voice tracking conversations, or is currently designed to detect human voices or distress.
The website's FAQ section notes that "in addition to gunshots, Flock Gunshot and Audio Detection can detect fireworks, sideshows, and other disruptive community events." It goes on to state that the company's "detection library is continuously expanding to include emerging threats relevant" to customers' specific needs.
Langley stated that Flock's microphone count is comparable to ShotSpotter, which had about 25,000 microphones in 2024, per Wired's report.
Langley's comments come amid growing scrutiny of Flock from privacy advocates, including the ACLU, and members of the public concerned about misuse of its technology, some of which has gone so far as to destroy surveillance cameras. The comments also come as Texas and Florida have moved to end their relationships with Flock, and Amazon's Circle has also ended its partnership with the company.
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Ayesha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Before joining the publication in 2021, he was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Ayesha holds a Bachelor's degree with honors from the University of Toronto and a Master's degree in Journalism from Western University.
You can contact or confirm Aisha by sending an email to [email protected] or by sending an encrypted message to aisha_malik.01 on Signal.
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