Flock Safety has become a flashpoint for privacy advocates recently. Questions swirl around the sheer number of its cameras, its partnerships with Home Depot and Lowe's, and the vast trove of data its automated license plate readers (ALPRs) collect on street corners and in parking lots nationwide.
Yet Flock isn't the only company in this game. It isn't even the biggest. Axon, a much larger firm, has been running its own network of ALPRs for even longer, quietly recording plates and passersby.
If you haven't heard of Axon, that's by design.
Founded in 1993 as Air Taser Inc., the company rebranded as Axon in 2017. Flock initially marketed its sleek cameras to homeowners associations, but Axon took a different route. It sold directly to police departments, keeping its name and its sprawling surveillance apparatus out of the public eye.
For years, the two companies have been partners, with Axon an early investor in Flock. That relationship frayed publicly in 2025 over a dispute regarding data access, signaling a shift in an industry where data is the most valuable currency.
