The Scoop
Flock Safety, which is facing scrutiny over the proliferation and alleged abuse of its cameras, is weighing whether to sell itself, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company has had conversations with outside advisers, the people said. The people described the discussions as preliminary and said that no decisions had been made about whether to move forward with a sale process. A Flock spokesperson declined to comment.
Flock’s technology — and network — could appeal to rivals, such as taser-maker Axon, which operates a network of automated license-plate readers and outfits police vehicles and officers with cameras, or to Motorola Solutions, a competitor to Axon.
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The Atlanta-based company, which was founded in 2017, recently rolled out new safety measures to prevent abuse of its license plate camera data after rogue police officers were discovered to use Flock data to target and stalk people, the Washington Post reported last month. The company has been at the center of a national debate over surveillance data and public safety, and dozens of Flock cameras across the US have been destroyed — a backlash known as the “DeFlock” movement.
The company has taken a number of steps to address the concerns, including cutting its default video retention window from 30 days to seven days.
The company has said its cameras have helped save thousands of lives and reduced crime in the communities it operates in. “In public safety, the benefits far, far outweigh the concerns,” Flock board member David Ulevitch said on Semafor’s Compound Interest show earlier this year. The company has grown dramatically over the last several years as more police departments, businesses, and homeowner associations used the license-plate readers.