Flock’s Fake Police Unit Ran Real Searches for Political and Religious Markers

A new report from 404 Media describes how Flock, the license-plate surveillance company, ran a series of test queries against real camera feeds using a fictional police department it had created. The mock unit, called “Flock City PD,” was used to search for vehicles displaying a “coexist bumper sticker,” a “white truck with a trump sticker,” and a “Star of David.”

According to the report, Flock said these searches were intended as demonstrations of the kinds of queries that police should not run. The examples appear designed to highlight the risk of using automated surveillance to target people based on political or religious expression, even as the underlying technology makes such searches technically possible.

The episode raises questions about how surveillance companies test their own systems and what safeguards exist to prevent misuse. The source does not indicate whether any real individuals were identified or contacted as a result of the searches, and Flock’s stated intent was educational rather than operational.