Flock CEO's 'just gunshots' claim contradicts company website
Original: Flock CEO says its microphones detect ‘just gunshots’ — its website says different
Why This Matters
Discrepancies between exec claims and product docs raise accountability questions for surveillance tech vendors.
Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley told TechCrunch Disrupt that its Gunshot Detection microphones capture only gunshots, but the company's own website lists car crashes, fireworks, sideshows, and street takeovers among detected audio events.
Speaking onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt, Flock Safety co-founder and CEO Garrett Langley insisted his company's Gunshot Detection product listens for 'just gunshots, plain and simple.' The company's website tells a different story: it openly advertises the system's ability to 'detect street takeovers early,' 'identify severe crashes in real time,' and 'expand awareness beyond gunfire with alerts for car crashes, fireworks, and sideshows.' The gap between the CEO's on-stage message and the product's own marketing page is hard to ignore.
The product has a troubled history. When Flock launched Gunshot Detection last year, it stated the microphones would also listen for 'screaming.' Privacy advocates pushed back hard, and Flock quietly amended its website to say 'sounds of human distress' instead. The company later claimed it had removed distress-detection entirely from the handful of customers piloting it. Langley framed the rollback as responsiveness to customer concerns, not a policy failure.
Outside the Disrupt venue in San Francisco, protesters gathered specifically to oppose Flock and other license plate reader companies, reflecting growing public unease with mass surveillance infrastructure. Langley accused critics of spreading misinformation and argued they misunderstand how Flock's products actually work.