Flock CEO says anti-company protests are ‘not real’ in leaked conference audio

Garrett Langley also suggested opposition driven by Russian bots and said he would prefer to never do media interviews again

By LineZotpaper AI staff

Published26 October 2026

Read Time2 min

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Flock CEO Garrett Langley told police chiefs at a private conference that public protests against his company’s automatic license plate readers are not organic and are largely driven by paid actors and Russian bots, according to leaked audio obtained by 404 Media. Langley made the comments Sunday at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference in Orlando, Florida.

In the leaked audio, Langley claimed that anti-Flock social media activity dropped 50 percent when Ukraine bombed a Russian data center, repeating a disproven theory that the strikes had a significant impact on internet bot activity. “Social media chatter on Flock is down about 95 percent from July,” Langley said. “It went down 50 percent last week when Ukraine bombed a Russian data center with a drone. Literally 50 percent overnight. And so look, I’m the last person, my wife as well, she’s like ‘This is crazy, these people are getting paid to say these things.’” He described the protests as “inorganic activity” and said, “It’s anonymous bots, and so it is not real.”

Langley also said his wife advised him never to apologize, even as he acknowledged making “a lot of mistakes this summer.” The company faced extensive public scrutiny after instances of police abuse and false arrests tied to its technology came to light, and dozens of cities have canceled Flock contracts over the past 18 months. 404 Media previously reported that local law enforcement used Flock cameras for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lookups, and that a Texas police officer searched the national network for a woman who self-administered an abortion.

Langley told the audience he would prefer to stop doing media interviews. “The media gets to say whatever they want to say about you,” he said. “I’d like to never do media again if that’s possible.” He suggested opposition would eventually subside: “I think right now we’re not at the bottom, but we’re real, dang, near close to it and about to come back up on the other side.”

The session was billed as a fireside chat between Langley and David Rausch, IACP president and director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, to discuss “opportunities, challenges, and public debate surrounding the technology, including issues related to privacy, transparency, governance, data use, and community trust.”

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Analysis

Why This Matters

The leaked audio reveals how the CEO of a company operating a national network of roughly 80,000 surveillance cameras views public concern as manufactured, raising questions about accountability and community trust.
Flock’s technology has been linked to false arrests, immigration enforcement, and warrantless searches, and growing backlash has led to cancelled contracts and proposed federal legislation. Langley’s dismissal of that backlash may further erode public confidence.
Multiple lawmakers have proposed bills to ban or restrict Flock’s cameras, and the company’s response to that legislative pressure could shape the future of automated surveillance in the U.S.

Background

Flock Safety manufactures automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) that capture the license plate, color, make, and model of every passing vehicle, creating timestamped location logs. The company markets its network as a national resource, allowing law enforcement customers to search cameras across jurisdictions without a warrant. That nationwide reach has drawn criticism from privacy advocates and community groups. Over the past 18 months, 404 Media and other outlets have reported on police abuses linked to Flock data, triggering a wave of contract cancellations and public activism, including social media campaigns, protests, and acts of vandalism against cameras.

What to Watch

Whether proposed federal legislation to restrict Flock’s technology gains traction in Congress.
How cities already considering contract cancellations react to Langley’s leaked comments, especially those with active local protests.
Any escalation in public activism or corporate responses from Flock and its competitors (Axon threw a party at the same conference).

Sources

In Leaked Audio, Flock CEO Tells Cops Backlash to the Company Isn’t Real · 404 Media

Checked

12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 11 supported.

Show each claim

SupportedFlock CEO Garrett Langley said anti-Flock protests were “not real.”404 Media: “Garrett Langley, the CEO of automatic license plate reader company Flock, told an audience of police chiefs at a private police conference Sunday that anti-Flock protests around the country are not real”
Partly supportedLangley told police chiefs that public protests were largely driven by paid actors and Russian bots.404 Media: “claimed without evidence that the social media opposition to Flock is driven mostly by Russian bots. “Somebody was paying for [the social media posts and] stopped paying for it,” Langley said”
SupportedLangley made the comments Sunday at a private IACP conference in Orlando, Florida.404 Media: “Langley made the comments at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference, which is running Saturday to Tuesday in Orlando, Florida.”
SupportedLangley said social-media chatter about Flock was down about 95 percent from July.404 Media: ““Social media chatter on Flock is down about 95 percent from July.””
SupportedLangley said the chatter fell 50 percent after Ukraine bombed a Russian data center, and the source describes this as a disproven theory about the strikes’ effect on internet bot activity.404 Media: ““It went down 50 percent last week when Ukraine bombed a Russian data center with a drone. Literally 50 percent overnight.” ... repeating a disproven theory that Ukraine’s strikes on Russian data centers had a significant impact on internet bot activity.”
SupportedLangley’s wife said, “This is crazy, these people are getting paid to say these things.”404 Media: “she’s like ‘This is crazy, these people are getting paid to say these things,’” he added”
SupportedLangley described the activity as inorganic and said, “It’s anonymous bots, and so it is not real.”404 Media: ““It’s anonymous bots, and so it is not real,” he continued. “Inorganic activity has led to organic activity”
SupportedLangley said his wife advised him never to apologize.404 Media: ““I give my wife a lot of credit. She was, like, you should never apologize,” Langley said.”
SupportedLangley acknowledged making “a lot of mistakes this summer.”404 Media: ““Sure, people make mistakes. I've made a lot of mistakes in the last nine years. I made a lot of mistakes this summer.””
SupportedDozens of cities canceled Flock contracts over the last 18 months.404 Media: “Dozens of cities have canceled their contracts with Flock over the last 18 months.”
SupportedA Texas police officer searched the national camera network for a woman who self-administered an abortion.404 Media: “a cop in Texas searched cameras nationwide for a woman who self-administered an abortion.”
SupportedLangley said, “I’d like to never do media again if that’s possible.”404 Media: ““I’d like to never do media again if that's possible.””

Discussion elsewhere

Hacker News107 points · 51 comments →

Historically it was an easy step going from "these people are not real" to "these people are now dead".
BoxwoodSeed on Hacker News

Better not prosecute people who cut down the cameras then, since that's part of the non-real backlash.
everdrive on Hacker News