We are saddened and outraged at what has happened to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other unarmed black men and women. We stand with the victims of police brutality and murder. We need to decrease violence in our country and eliminate the racism and prejudice that fuels this behavior.

At Flock, we believe in objective policing, we believe in ethical decisions, and we believe the path to a safe community is not only with technology, not with force, but with strong bonds between police departments and the citizens they promise to protect.

I started this company with a single mission: eliminate non-violent crime. We have always believed (hence the name Flock) that the path to do this was by building a partnership between the community and its law enforcement agency.

Therefore, we also stand with the brave men and women in law enforcement who risk their lives every day to keep their communities safe. We have the privilege of working with law enforcement agencies across the country who believe in building safer communities through better relationships with their citizens.

Law enforcement is fundamental to our core mission. I have the honor of knowing hundreds of chiefs at this point, and they are some of the hardest working, nicest people I have ever met. Before Flock, there was a string of break-ins in my neighborhood. I called one organization to find out what to do about it: my local law enforcement.

However, this bridge is broken in many communities, and the gap has been growing for a long time before these current events. This is something that can change and something that we will help change.

We choose not to sit silent at Flock. We believe we have an opportunity to act, not watch. We will continue to build ethically designed and objective-in-practice technology for both sides of the table to eliminate crime. We strongly believe that technology has the potential to make the world a worse place. We chose to purposefully avoid that path and instead focus on solutions that are objective and lack prejudice. We will build products to bring people together.

We fundamentally believe we can have a positive impact on this problem, but not by being silent and not with just talk. At Flock, we have the unique opportunity of being able to bring change on this issue both internally and externally. We will shine the spotlight inward, ensuring our policies and approach to how we operate align with the goal of making tangible progress towards equity.

Let me be clear, we do not condone violence of any kind, including violence against the law enforcement community. Moreover, we will use our position in the public safety space to bring change to the world by standing up for those who continue to be pushed down. We will be a part of the solution, rather than standing idly by. We believe black lives matter because they do matter, and while we do not provide donations to any non-profits, we stand in solidarity with the BIPOC community against racial injustices.

As a starting point, we will take the following action:

• Create an Ethics Board to hold our company accountable for making sound decisions as it relates to removing prejudice and protecting privacy
• Call on our local senators to pass HB426, the Hate Crimes bill in Georgia, and urge our national leaders to enact bills such as H.R. 40, legislation that would create a commission to study the negative and lingering effects of slavery and discrimination from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies on a federal and state level
• Refine and create more internal and external policy that holds all parties accountable
• Encourage any employee to take a mental health day next week and in the future as they see fit with their manager
• Continue to listen, learn, and then act. It is our duty to make sure justice is delivered and that we do what we can to eradicate this problem entirely

Garrett Langley

CEO & Founder