Building Smarter, Not Just Bigger: How Flock Safety Thinks About Product, Integrations and the Future of AI

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The second season of the Flock Safety podcast is off to a strong start, and we kicked off the integration conversation with none other than our Chief Strategy Officer, Bailey Quintrell.

Bailey has been with Flock since the early days. Before he was CSO, he was installing cameras from the back of his truck after pitching to police departments in the morning. That same on-the-ground mindset still drives how Flock builds technology today, only now it’s at a national scale.

In this episode, Jamie Hudson and Dalton Webb dive into Bailey’s perspective on what it takes to build products that actually work for public safety—and what doesn’t.

What “Integration” Really Means

Integrations are often touted as must-haves, but Bailey challenges us to ask: are they functional or are they just there to check a box?

“Some integrations are just lip service. If it doesn’t help solve crime, it’s not worth building.” Bailey Quintrell 

At Flock, the integration strategy boils down to three key areas:

• Location data from moving objects (e.g., LPR)
  
• Real-time systems like alerts and video feeds
  
• Investigative tools that help close cases faster

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Bailey emphasizes that every integration built must add long-term value. Because once it’s live, Flock commits to maintaining it indefinitely.

Open, but Not Reckless

Being “open” is often assumed to mean giving everything away. Bailey clarified what it means at Flock:

• Open-in and open-out support: Agencies can use their existing tech with Flock (e.g., legacy cameras), and data can be shared where it makes sense.
  
• Balance over burnout: Flock isn’t in the business of maintaining third-party equipment from a decade ago—but if it works and adds value, it’s welcome in the ecosystem.
  

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“It’s not Flock or the highway,” Bailey says. “We’re happy to make legacy and third-party systems work.”

Product Strategy: Listening and Looking Ahead

Flock’s product roadmap isn’t just a wishlist. It’s a blend of short-term agency requests and long-term bets on new technology.

The team plans on three horizons:

• Quarter to quarter: What can we ship now?
  
• One year: What are we actively building toward?
  
• Three years: What should public safety look like in a world with dramatically less crime?
  

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For example, customer demand led to Plate Swap and Multi-State Analytics. Meanwhile, ideas like Freeform (natural language vehicle search) emerged from internal R&D and a push to expand what’s possible.

AI That Works, With Humans in the Loop

Generative AI has taken over headlines, but Bailey keeps the conversation grounded: in law enforcement, AI must support—not replace—human decisions.

Flock’s approach to AI focuses on:

• Making officers more effective in less time
  
• Surfacing insights users didn’t even know to ask for
  
• Applying machine learning to reduce the 6-month feature development cycle down to seconds
  

“It’s not just about building a new tool,” Bailey says. “It’s about reducing friction and empowering better decisions faster.”

Bringing It Full Circle

The conversation ends with a nod to integrations again. This time with a parallel to Apple and Google.

Like your smartphone, Flock aims for a hybrid approach:

• Native tools that work better together
  
• Compatibility with outside apps and systems when needed
  

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This is what enables agencies to modernize without starting from scratch.

Final Thoughts

Flock’s strategy is as much about what we build as it is about why we build it. Whether it’s integrating with existing infrastructure, designing with AI in mind or choosing not to build something that doesn’t deliver value—we’re focused on creating tools that actually help reduce crime and make communities safer.

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