Calif. Police Using Sounds of Tire Screeches to Combat Sideshows

Two Bay Area cities are testing technology intended to detect and alert police to sideshows, according to Flock Safety, the law-enforcement technology company behind San Francisco's 400 new license plate reading cameras.

The new device uses AI technology to listen for specific types of tire screeches, differentiating between the noises made during a sideshow and, say, one about to ram into the car ahead of it, said Holly Beilin, a spokesperson for Flock Safety.

The sensors are "able to distinguish when there's that sustained sound of screeching tires and other sounds that might be indicative of sideshows, and alert law enforcement with a very high level of accuracy," Beilin said.

Flock officials declined to name which cities are using the sideshow detection device, or to comment on whether other cities have discussed adopting the technology.

Jeff Cretan, a spokesperson for Mayor London Breed, said San Francisco would consider expanding its use of Flock devices.

"We have a great partnership with Flock," Cretan said. "Their automated license plate readers have been a game changer, and we continue to evaluate their products in our city."

Sideshows, the unsanctioned stunt-driving events that have long roiled communities across the Bay Area, have recently come under more scrutiny as lawmakers impose harsher penalties for both drivers and other participants.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the Flock Safety technology had been used to disrupt sideshows, or when it had been installed.

City leaders for years have faced criticism from residents fed up with local sideshows, saying that officials aren't doing enough to respond to the unruly and often dangerous events.

While San Francisco's current license plate readers don't record audio, Beilin said Flock's new sideshow detection technology could work well alongside its cameras.

"If an officer can't immediately get on scene to record the license plates of the suspect vehicles that are involved in the sideshows, (license plate reader) cameras can provide that evidence so that officers can then follow up," Beilin said.

Several other Bay Area cities are also already using Flock's license-plate readers to help police make arrests, including Oakland, Vallejo, Richmond and Fairfield. The company said this month that more than 5,000 communities across the U.S. are using its technologies.

While local police and city officials have praised Flock's cameras as high-tech assistance in crime fighting, the devices have triggered concerns over potential violations of privacy rights.

In a federal lawsuit filed this week, the public interest law firm Institute for Justice, alleged that the pervasive "dragnet" created by the cameras violates Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

The suit names two residents of Virginia cities Norfolk and Portsmouth as plaintiffs, claiming the installation of the cameras makes it impossible for them to move about the city by car without having their movements logged by the system.

In a statement in response to the lawsuit, Flock said "license plate readers do not constitute a warrantless search because they take photos of cars in public and cannot continuously track the movements of any individual."

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