Flock is quietly training police to sway city leaders to buy surveillance tech:

As East Bay communities raise concerns about civil liberties and immigration enforcement, the license plate camera company is seeking support from its customers -- law enforcement officers. [...]

Brian Hofer, executive director of Secure Justice, a privacy and civil liberties group, said Flock's training reminds him of public relations strategies used by other surveillance technology vendors. [...]

"You wine and dine them, take them on golf trips, teach them how to write grants, and then you give them a job after they retire," he said. "Then, they go and sell contracts to other police departments, and who are they going to listen to? Other police who have used this technology." [...]

Hofer said he thinks Flock, like ShotSpotter, is seeking support from law enforcement officers in reaction to the dozens of jurisdictions that have canceled their contracts with the company. Since August 2021, 88 of Flock's contracts have been terminated, according to Secure Justice's most recent tally. As of publication time, that includes 45 since the beginning of the year. (Terminations also include non-renewals and non-awards, if there was a competitive bidding process.)

"At the rate that they're losing contracts, this is a big piece of evidence that they're panicking," Hofer said.

To date, Flock has contracts with more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide.

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