Flock Gunshot Detection: CEO and Website Tell Two Stories
Flock CEO Garrett Langley has a simple description of what his company's microphones listen for: gunshots, and nothing else. Flock's own website describes something broader. That gap came to the surface at TechCrunch Disrupt this week, where Langley defended the product onstage while protesters gathered outside the San Francisco venue.
The exchange matters beyond one company. It shows how hard it is to pin down what an always-on sensing system actually does when the people selling it describe it in different ways depending on the audience.
What Langley said onstage
Flock is a surveillance company best known for license plate reading cameras. Its audio product, called Gunshot Detection, uses microphones placed across neighborhoods to pick up gunfire and other ambient sounds. The stated goal is to give public safety agencies "earlier awareness" of incidents.