Flock co-founder and CEO Garrett Langley said onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt that his company's gunshot-detection microphones listen only for gunfire, while Flock's own marketing materials describe a broader set of ambient sounds the audio systems can pick up. The surveillance company's Gunshot Detection product listens for gunshots and other ambient audio across nearby neighborhoods to give earlier awareness of potential public safety events. Langley's remarks drew attention because they conflict with what the company tells customers on its website.
Flock's site states the audio systems can pinpoint gunfire instantly. It also says they can detect street takeovers early to stop chaos before it escalates, identify severe crashes in real time so help arrives faster, and expand awareness beyond gunfire with alerts for car crashes, fireworks, and sideshows. An FAQ on the site says that in addition to gunshots, Flock Gunshot and Audio Detection can detect fireworks, sideshows, and other disruptive community events, and that its detection library is continually expanding to include emerging threats relevant to customers' needs.
When asked onstage about the contradiction between his remarks and that marketing language, Langley replied that it is just gunshots. He said most people do not call 911 when they hear a gunshot, which is why the company built the product, and that some customers with units in parking lots asked to be alerted if someone was being abducted or harmed. He said the idea seemed logical, so Flock prototyped it and rolled it out to a couple of customers, then faced concerns. Langley conceded mistakes but said he was listening to customers, and that only a couple of customers were prototyping it before the company decided it would only do gunshots and notify when a gun goes off.
Flock spokesperson Paris Lewbel told TechCrunch that the gunshot detection technology is primarily used to detect gunfire but is also capable of detecting fireworks, sideshows, and potential car crashes. Lewbel said Langley's remarks were meant to emphasize that Flock's Audio Detection technology is not designed to monitor conversations or analyze speech and does not currently detect human screaming or distress. The Gunshot Detection feature, announced last year, drew immediate pushback after Flock said the technology would listen for sounds of screaming; privacy groups condemned the company for listening for human voices, prompting an amendment to say sounds of human distress, and Flock later said it pulled the ability to detect distress altogether from customers who tried it.
Langley said the number of Flock microphones is comparable to ShotSpotter, which as of 2024 had about 25,000 microphones, according to reporting by Wired. The comments come as public opinion shifts against Flock and other license plate reading companies amid growing unease about mass surveillance. Protesters gathered outside the venue as Langley took the stage in San Francisco. Texas and Florida have moved to end their relationships with Flock, and Amazon's Ring has ended its partnership with the company. Privacy advocates including the ACLU and members of the public concerned about misuse of the technology have scrutinized Flock, with some going so far as destroying the surveillance cameras.
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