The a16z Show What It Takes to Clear a Million Crimes a Year with Flock Safety's CEO
119 snips
Mar 11, 2026 
Garrett Langley, founder and CEO of Flock Safety and an electrical engineer who built license-plate cameras after a neighborhood theft, tells the story behind a company now deployed in thousands of cities. He discusses scaling cameras to drones, real-time 911 integration, AI orchestration for triage, privacy and audit controls, and how hardware, procurement, and legal limits shape city safety tools.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Neighborhood Camera That Sparked Flock Safety
- Garrett Langley built the first Flock camera after a gun was stolen from his car and police said they lacked a license plate to investigate.
- Two months later the camera identified a nonresident plate and led to an arrest within hours, spurring neighborhood demand via local TV coverage.
Real-Time Orchestration Turns 911 Tips Into Arrests
- Flock OS ties 911 audio, city cameras, and search tools so operators can go from a 911 tip to an arrest in minutes.
- Example: a 911 caller remembered white Converse; Freeform searched city cameras and delivered video to nearby officers, arresting a suspect in ~17 minutes.
Drone Followed Van And Enabled Tactical Apprehension
- In a Levi's store armed robbery, Flock's drone autonomously flew to the scene, identified a distinctive van, and provided eyes so officers executed a safe driveway apprehension.
- The drone avoided a high-speed chase and enabled a tactical pin-in arrest.
