Safety tech company launches tool to help law enforcement fight human trafficking

Flock Safety has released another piece of revolutionary technology aimed at keeping everyday civilians safe from crime. The company’s new product, Flock Nova, helps law enforcement with a common but often overlooked problem – a lack of data sharing and access.

“I operated under the assumption that if I got pulled over or arrested in one city, that city would have access to all the other arrests that have occurred across the country, and the sad reality is this is not how it works,” Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley told FOX Business. “And so, you might be doing a traffic stop on a very violent individual from a different state and have no idea. But now with Nova, we can disseminate that information and create an equal playing field for law enforcement and the people that they are trying to protect us from.”

Langley’s company has already seen success in the law enforcement space with its license plate reader (LPR), which helped capture Paul Hyon Kim, who is facing charges related to arson at a Tesla facility in Las Vegas. Now, with Nova, Flock Safety is attempting to help law enforcement tackle the scourge of human trafficking. 

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The Flock Safety CEO told FOX Business that a “rapid decline in the law enforcement population” combined with Americans’ unchanging safety expectations has created a “huge workload problem,” something his company is aiming to combat with Nova. This especially comes into play with human trafficking, which Langley said can be “exceptionally hard to solve.”

Over the weekend, in raids across the country in which law enforcement used Nova, 87 adult victims and one juvenile victim were rescued. Additionally, there were 74 arrests, and seven firearms and $1.09 million seized, not including the cash inside an ATM that has yet to be opened. The operation, named “Coast to Coast,” which took place over the course of 36 hours, targeted 26 illicit massage parlors in 19 states and included 157 police agencies.

“TraffickStop, in collaboration with Flock Safety, is proud to provide investigators with the actionable intelligence they need to strengthen cases and hold traffickers accountable,” said Andrew Romero, founder of Code Four Development. “As a retired organized crime detective, I’ve seen how real-time intelligence accelerates enforcement actions to dismantle criminal networks. We remain committed to equipping those on the front lines with the insights to move swiftly – and compassionately – against this crime.”

“I’ve been in law enforcement a little over 19 years now. And any time law enforcement has the ability to leverage a platform or emerging technology that increases access to investigative relevant information or data, it becomes a force multiplier for us. It allows us to better serve our communities and the survivors of the crimes that we investigate,” Sgt. Arthur Nelsen, who works in Austin, Texas, told FOX Business.

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Nelsen described law enforcement’s tactics to fight human trafficking as having a “three-pillar approach,” one of which, he says, is “public-private partnerships,” such as the one with Flock Safety. However, Nelsen also told FOX Business that Nova allows law enforcement to “better prepare for proactive intervention that also prioritizes survivor safety.”

“As we try to improve,” Nelsen said, “it’s really critical that we develop these partnerships with the civilian companies and assets – AI software engineers or platform engineers – to be able for us to bring our tactical level knowledge and experience into systems such as these that benefit everybody within the community, our survivors, and strengthen case integrity and investigations for law enforcement.”

While Nova is AI-enabled, law enforcement agencies have the option of whether to use AI features, which is key for agencies in states that have regulations on AI.

Langley told FOX Business that technologies like Nova are able to help law enforcement operate with a “level of precision that does not occur today.” This, according to Langley, allows police to act “with surgical precision” against crime.