wired.com web signal

Flock's OS Investigate lets police search by pattern, not plate

By Published Updated

TL;DR

  • Flock is testing OS Investigate, a chat-style AI that lets officers query a place, time window, or driving pattern and returns matching people.
  • The reconstructed code lists 69 prewritten prompts and 45 tools reaching plate scans, arrest records, dispatch logs, ballistics, and commercial identity databases.
  • Wired and an independent researcher rebuilt the interface without accessing the live tool, using code found in more than 450 files exposed through Flock's own login pages.

Flock Safety is testing a chat-style AI system that lets officers type in a place, a time window, or a driving pattern and get back a list of people. Wired reporters and an independent security and privacy researcher reconstructed a mock-up of the interface without ever accessing the live tool, using code pulled from more than 450 files exposed through Flock's own login pages.

The product is called OS Investigate, formerly Nightshift. According to the reconstructed code, it ships with 69 prewritten prompts that officers can edit before submitting, and 45 tools the model can call. Those tools give it access to plate scans and camera metadata, arrest records, case files, dispatch logs, ballistics results, and commercial databases that contain Social Security numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, relatives and associates.

A Flock spokesperson told Wired that OS Investigate is a separate product from its license-plate reader system, still in development, with capabilities subject to change before any broader release. Five experts in our Who's Who directory were passing the story around within a day of publication.

Shared on Bluesky by 5 AI experts

Originally reported by wired.com

Read the original article →

Original headline: This Is Flock’s AI Search Tool for Cops