Flock executive defends crime-fighting cameras as ACLU attorney questions company's motives amid backlash

Flock Safety, which operates controversial Flock cameras now in 49 states, is touting crime clearance rates in cities that use the cameras compared to cities that don't — as a nationwide battle over the surveillance tool rages.

"It's used for any kind of crime really," Phil Arnold, a public affairs manager for the company, told Fox News Digital. "It's very helpful for hit-and-run accidents, also stolen vehicles, property crimes, crimes against people as well."

Arnold is a retired officer who served his community in Shorewood, Illinois, for 40 years. He was the chief police executive in the town for 27 years.

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Arnold told Fox News Digital that for the last seven years of his career, his department used automatic license plate reader (ALPR) technology, which Flock Safety operates, to help solve crimes, describing the innovation as nothing short of revolutionary.

"Let me give you an example. Before we had this technology, someone would say, 'Hey, I just got robbed, and it was a white Chevy Tahoe,'" Arnold explained. "We would then put out this information, a BOLO [be on the lookout] so to speak, and police officers would stop every white Chevy Tahoe trying to find the offender."

Now, in a similar situation, Flock surveillance cameras narrow the searches to a specific geographic location where a reported crime has occurred, and then photographs of license plates matching the vehicle description can be used to identify possible suspect vehicles.

"So it narrows down the search," Arnold said. "It doesn't inconvenience the people who are just getting stopped because of the car they're driving."

LICENSE PLATE CAMERAS ARE TRACKING DRIVERS EVERYWHERE

Flock provided Fox News Digital data from an internal report regarding crime solving rates in cities that use Flock cameras, compared to cities that don't.

For example, in Tennessee, Nashville cleared only 7% of motor vehicle thefts in the first half of 2026, versus 40% in Flock-equipped Hendersonville, a smaller city about 16 miles away, according to the data.

"Aggravated assault clearance followed the same pattern: 41% vs. 95%. Only 3% of vehicle break-ins were solved in Nashville, compared with 50% in Hendersonville.

Those patterns, according to Flock, hold true in places all over the country.

Where Hillsborough, North Carolina, which does not use Flock, cleared 0% of vehicle thefts in the time studied, nearby Burlington cleared 46% of the same cases.

In Flock-less Ann Arbor, Michigan, solve rates were lower than in nearby Van Buren Township.

Flock described Eugene, Oregon, as "the most telling case."

"Flock cameras ran through October 2025, then were removed," the report says. "Motor-vehicle-theft clearance fell from 15% to 9%; burglary clearance dropped from 21% to 15%.

"Nearby Medford, still running Flock, cleared 29% of vehicle thefts & 25% of burglaries over the same period."

But not everyone is singing Flock's praises.

Skeptical communities nationwide have petitioned their local governments to do away with the technology. Some argue that it is intrusive and unnecessary, while