Flock, the company behind a widely used network of automatic license plate reading cameras, has repeatedly said it will not add facial recognition to its devices. But a third-party surveillance vendor, VIDIZMO, is now telling police departments that it can fill that gap by pulling Flock data into its own platforms, which offer facial recognition, behavior prediction, and racial and gender analysis. Both sources report this same core story, with the second providing additional detail from public records and company documentation.
In a May email to the deputy police chief of Johnson City, Tennessee, a VIDIZMO salesperson pitched the integration as a way to connect Flock's plate reads and clips with Axon body-worn camera footage in "one searchable platform." The email was obtained through a public records request by DeFlock Johnson City and shared with 404 Media. The Johnson City Police Department told 404 Media that it did not take a call with the company.
VIDIZMO's CEO, Nadeem Khan, said the company has not actually built the specific tool that would export data from Flock's system, even though it advertises the capability online and already sells other facial recognition products. Khan said VIDIZMO "would love to do the integration" and argued that facial recognition is "the way the world is going." He also said Flock has not been involved in or informed of the company's efforts. The sources agree on these facts; the second source adds the CEO's comments and the company's marketing claims about matching faces, classifying age, gender, and race, and setting confidence thresholds.