Flock Once Touted Its Cameras as ‘Made in the USA. ’ Now It’s Not So Clear

Flock Once Touted Its Cameras as ‘Made in the USA. ’ Now It’s Not So Clear. In marketing materials from 2019, Flock touted its cameras as “manufactured in the United States. ” The following year, it said they were “made in the USA. ” In 2021, it got more specific, telling potential customers that assembly was done by “Flock Safety in Atlanta, GA. ”Over the next couple of years, Flock began shifting final assembly to contract facilities in North Carolina and Wisconsin operated by East West Manufacturing and Plexus, according to a person familiar with the matter.

What happened

Skip to main contentSave this storySave this storyFlock CEO Garrett Langley has said the company made its first license plate cameras in his Atlanta home, permanently scratching his dining table with drill marks. “All products that Flock builds are National Defense Authorization Act compliant,” Flock spokesperson Paris Lewbel said in an email, referring to a US law that effectively bars government contractors from using parts made by a handful of Chinese tech companies over security concerns.

Cris van Pelt, creator of the anti-Flock advocacy project Have I Been Flocked, says that while where the cameras are made may have relatively minor implications for US communities, the lack of transparency about their origins underscores a broader problem. That’s a much bigger problem than where the final product is assembled. ”“Aggregation”The earliest Flock prototypes were made using cameras ripped out of Android phones bought on Alibaba, which were then attached to batteries and soldered onto a solar panel, Langley recalled in one video.

For years, Flock touted publicly that its devices were produced in the United States. While police have argued the cameras are crucial tools for deterring and solving crime, activists have criticized Flock for enabling officers to track the cars of their exes, share footage with immigration authorities, and follow the movements of pedestrians. Flock’s cameras largely rely on suppliers around the world that provide non-custom parts, which are also used in products from other companies.

The wider picture

“Quite a few shipments include ‘Radar’ in the product description which might be related to the radar sensor pods they’re attaching to their cameras. ”Flock didn’t respond to most of the detailed questions WIRED asked for this story, though it did provide some general information. The goal was to prove that a useful device could be created from parts collectively costing between $200 to $300. (WIRED reported earlier this week that Flock’s cameras continue to use smartphone-style processors and leave significant data unencrypted. )As Flock began securing contracts with homeowners associations, it shifted into a corporate office that also doubled as an assembly line.

A handful of Flock employees cranked out as many cameras as they could, with engineers assembling the main camera device and less technical staff attaching solar panels and mounts. Rather than opening up warehouses, Flock stored cameras in self-storage locations across the country for its installation crews to retrieve as needed, according to two former employees. One described the system as “janky,” noting it may have left cameras more vulnerable to tampering than they would have been if kept in more secure locations operated by Flock itself.

The person says Flock wanted to keep assembly in North America, both to ease security concerns—particularly about potential Chinese surveillance—and to keep factories close enough that it could quickly customize products in response to customer needs. A Flock marketing brochure from 2023 described its cameras as “designed & manufactured in the U. S. ” By 2024, Flock’s manufacturing partners were capable of producing 500 cameras a day, a ten-fold leap from several years prior, one of the people familiar with matter says.

What has been reported

WIRED was unable to determine where Flock’s cameras are assembled now. US-Made DroneFlock has been more upfront about the manufacturing of its new surveillance drone. US law now largely restricts foreign-made drones, including the models from China-based DJI that Flock has been deploying. We Got Its CodeFlock’s surveillance cameras have already sparked outrage. Fernanda GonzálezLawmakers Want States to Crack Down on Flock Cameras—or Pay the PriceA new bipartisan effort in Congress to rein in automated license plate readers takes a page from the national drinking age: Comply, or risk losing federal highway funding.

Those lyrics concern Jolene, the fictional romantic rival made infamous by Parton. Flock reveals little about where its license plate readers are assembled, but the answer could have geopolitical and cybersecurity implications. But more recent marketing materials from the company reviewed by WIRED no longer specify where its cameras come from.

What happens next

One US manufacturer that previously identified Flock as a customer quietly removed a mention of the company from its website earlier this year as public backlash against the company’s surveillance technology grew. The startup has become the subject of a nationwide protest movement that has prompted dozens of local governments to abruptly stop using its cameras. Congress is also considering legislation that would cut federal funding to states that fail to limit use of Flock and other license plate readers.

But Flock’s manufacturing supply chain has received scant attention, even though where its hardware is produced could have implications for US national security. WIRED spoke with current and former Flock employees and supply chain analysts, reviewed data from US import records, and watched past marketing videos featuring Langley to piece together the first account of how its hardware pipeline has evolved. Do you know more about Flock’s assembly and supply chain? Import records collected by ImportGenius show the company has been increasingly bringing “commodity” cameras, radar systems, and other components over from Primax Electronics in Thailand.

The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across wired.com, theguardian.com. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.