Atlanta, GA, July 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — From the main stage at TED2026: All of Us in Vancouver, Flock founder and CEO Garrett Langley made the case that safety should be treated as a fundamental right, and addressed head-on the privacy and surveillance questions that follow his technology into every community it enters. In a talk now live, Langley argues that objective evidence, not subjective policing, is reshaping how communities deter and solve crime.
Langley opened with a case from rural Tennessee: a grandmother wakes to find her 11-year-old granddaughter gone overnight – no note, no sign of a struggle. The only lead a detective had was a license plate captured on a nearby camera, traced to a registered sex offender traveling north on I-75. That plate, and the direction of travel it revealed, were enough to intercept the vehicle before the case turned fatal.
Langley founded Flock nine years ago, frustrated that crime in his own Atlanta neighborhood felt too easy to get away with. What began as a single camera has grown into a platform spanning license plate readers (LPRs), drones, and audio detection that the company says supported more than 1 million criminal investigations and incidents in 2025. In jurisdictions where Flock is deployed, an estimated 20% of solved cases were assisted with Flock technology. More than 10,000 mission persons were located last year with Flock’s help, totaling more than 27 per day.
Much of the talk, and the Q&A that followed with TED Chairman Chris Anderson, addressed the recent criticism Flock has faced: whether its cameras violate constitutional protections, what they mean for privacy, and whether they amount to mass surveillance. Langley pointed to 30 court cases upholding the technology’s use and outlined the safeguards in place, including customer ownership of data, 30-day data retention limits and audited officer access, without shying away from cases of misuse.
The talk follows Flock’s recent launch of its Trust & Compliance suite, including a new Audit Assistance tool designed to help agencies monitor platform use and reinforce accountability as adoption scales nationwide.
Langley closed with the line that gives the talk its title: “Safety should not be a privilege, it should be a right,” Langley said. “It should not matter the color of your skin, your political affiliation or your income level. Everyone, in my opinion, deserves the right to be safe.”
Watch the full talk on TED.com. To learn more about Flock, visit www.flocksafety.com.
About Flock
Flock is the leading safety technology platform, helping communities thrive by taking a proactive approach to crime prevention and security. Our end-to-end hardware and software suite unites cities, law enforcement, businesses, schools, and neighborhoods in a nationwide public-private safety network. Flock helped reunite more than 10,000 missing people with their loved ones in 2025 and is trusted by more than 12,000 customers to deliver real-time intelligence while upholding the highest standards of privacy, data integrity, and responsible innovation. Visit www.flocksafety.com for more info.
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- Garrett Langley, CEO and Founder of Flock, at TED2026