Surveillance-software vendor VIDIZMO pitched a Tennessee police department on searching Flock Safety camera data by face, vehicle and object alongside Axon video. The proposal described a potential bridge between license-plate and video evidence systems, but VIDIZMO’s chief executive says the company has not built a Flock export integration or run face recognition on Flock footage.
A salesperson outlined the idea in a May email to a deputy police chief in Johnson City, Tennessee. The email, obtained through a public-records request, said investigators could bring Flock data, Axon body-camera footage and other evidence into a single searchable system. Johnson City police said no follow-up call took place with the vendor.
Flock operates automated license-plate reading cameras and a real-time crime-center platform used by police agencies. Its chief executive has said the company will not add facial recognition to its devices. VIDIZMO sells separate tools for video analysis and facial matching, including a watchlist feature that can identify enrolled faces in camera footage and generate alerts.
VIDIZMO’s online materials describe ways an authorized agency could export Flock clips or plate reads and import them into its products. CEO Nadeem Khan said the specific Flock export tool described in the marketing material has not been built and that Flock was not involved in the proposed workflow. VIDIZMO continues to offer facial matching for other video sources, while the proposed Flock connection remains unbuilt.
VIDIZMO’s existing face-analysis documentation also describes searches using estimated age, gender and race. Those attributes raise separate questions from matching a face against a named watchlist, because demographic classification can produce errors and may affect how officers narrow a search. Khan said use of the company’s system requires a case number and is logged for audit.
Some jurisdictions are already drawing boundaries around combining camera networks and biometrics. Missouri barred facial-recognition integration with license-plate readers, while a Georgia county launched a crime center using both facial recognition and plate tracking. Flock’s chief executive has separately said that the company’s devices will not add facial recognition. VIDIZMO has expressed interest in applying its own face-analysis tools to footage that agencies can export under their authorized access.
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
