A joint analysis by 404 Media and WIRED confirmed that while Flock markets the devices for vehicle tracking, the internal software is explicitly designed to detect and record people as well.
The breach is significant because it contradicts the company's previous claims that footage is inaccessible to those with physical access to the hardware.
The recovered data demonstrates that the cameras operate as high-frequency tracking tools, sometimes generating over 100 images for a single passing vehicle and mistakenly capturing bumper stickers or clothing patches as license plates.
This granular data feeds into a national network accessible to thousands of agencies, raising concerns about the lack of oversight when local surveillance data is used by federal authorities for immigration enforcement or tracking individuals seeking medical procedures.
Technically, the camera functions like a midrange smartphone, running approximately 20 proprietary applications that handle motion detection, object classification, and data transmission via cellular networks.
While the hardware does not perform facial recognition, it uses multiple exposures to isolate specific subjects before sending the results to Flock’s central servers for final identification.
These findings provide a rare look at the infrastructure behind "OS Investigate," the company’s broader software ecosystem that aggregates police and commercial data to map patterns of human movement across the country.