Vehicle surveillance giant Flock Safety has unveiled a powerful new AI tool for police that can identify drivers and track vehicles by their patterns of movement alone. The software, originally called Nightshift and now renamed OS Investigate, comes with over 450 prewritten prompts that officers can select or edit before submitting to the AI.

The system draws on Flock’s network of cameras in more than 6,000 communities, plus access to police case files, dispatch logs, and commercial identity records. This means it can turn vehicle plates into names, home addresses, and relatives’ information with just a map-based search or behavioral pattern.

Experts warn that these capabilities raise serious constitutional concerns by giving law enforcement broad, often warrantless access to people’s movement data. The pre-loaded prompts go further, turning Flock from a tool for finding known vehicles into one that casts suspicion on drivers based on their driving habits alone.

Facing bipartisan political pressure and a wave of vandalism in cities where its cameras are installed, Flock claims OS Investigate is still under development. However, the code shows that 19 prompts describe hunting for patterns rather than specific records, with no need for plates, names or descriptions. Instead, officers simply supply locations, timeframes, and behaviors.

The tool filters out common vehicles like buses, semi-trucks, work vans and trailers, so a delivery driver visiting multiple shops wouldn't be flagged, but an ordinary driver making the same rounds would remain on the list.