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 law enforcement officer who served his community in Shorewood, Illinois, for 40 years.

He was the chief police executive in the town for 27 years.

FORMER PENTAGON AI CHIEF WARNS FLOCK CAMERAS COULD CREATE 'CHINA-LIKE SURVEILLANCE STATE' IN THE US 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.