During the TechCrunch Disrupt event, Garrett Langley, the CEO of Flock Safety, addressed the ongoing national debate surrounding his company’s surveillance technology. Flock Safety provides automated license plate recognition cameras and other monitoring tools to law enforcement agencies and private entities across the United States.

Langley argued that the technology serves as a critical tool for public safety and crime reduction. He explicitly pushed back against calls to limit or pause the deployment of these systems, suggesting that the societal benefits of crime-fighting capabilities should take precedence over privacy concerns. While the company maintains that its tools are essential for modern policing, critics and privacy advocates have raised alarms regarding the potential for mass surveillance, data misuse, and the erosion of anonymity in public spaces.

There is a clear divide in the discourse: Langley frames the technology as a necessary evolution of public safety infrastructure, while privacy advocates view the rapid expansion of such networks as a threat to civil liberties. The discussion highlights a broader tension in the tech industry between the desire for rapid innovation in security tools and the need for regulatory oversight to protect individual privacy.