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What if America tried to eliminate crime instead of just reacting to it? Not with slogans, but with staffing, technology, and strategy scaled to the problem. In this episode, Erik Torenberg speaks with Garrett Langley, founder and CEO of Flock Safety, and Ben Horowitz, cofounder of a16z, about what is happening in the cities that are trying. Flock now works with over 5,000 communities to detect crime, recover missing children, and close cases faster than ever. Ben has been closely involved in Las Vegas, where Flock technology, drones, and community policing have raised clearance rates while reducing use of force. They outline what a real national crime-reduction strategy could look like: solving the police staffing crisis, using intelligence to make policing safer, understanding why clearance rates have collapsed, and how public–private partnerships are filling gaps cities cannot. They also tackle the hard questions around privacy, criminal justice failures, and the hidden role of organized crime in everyday offenses. Timecodes: 0:00 — Introduction: The Cost of Not Enforcing Crime 1:29 — Teach for America Model for Law Enforcement 3:56 — The People Problem: Cultural Shift in Policing 8:28 — Technology Stack: Products for Crime Prevention 12:11 — Deterrence vs. Incarceration 16:15 — Intelligence-Based Policing 19:57 — Why Crime Clearance Rates Are Dropping 25:00 — Vegas Case Study: Community Response 28:10 — Private Funding for Police Innovation 34:05 — Addressing Privacy and Trust Concerns 38:53 — Prison Reform and Rehabilitation 43:44 — Crime Statistics and Reporting Issues 47:08 — Data Retention and Sharing Policies 51:52 — Organized Crime and Sophisticated Operations 54:16 — The Future of Policing: Intelligence and Precision 57:07 — Success Stories: Saving Missing Children Read the full transcript here: https://www.a16z.news/s/podcast Resources: Follow Garrett on X: https://twitter.com/glangley Follow Ben on X: https://twitter.com/bhorowitz Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! Find a16z on X: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX Listen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711 Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details, please see a16z.com/disclosures.
"If you don't enforce crime, what you end up is with lost generations. >> Yeah. If I woke up in 10 years and all we had done was put a lot of people in prison. It's actually double bad. >> Yeah. Well, ..."
">> thanks for having me. >> So, this group here is both is heavily invested in eliminating crime. Garrett, obviously you with Flock Safety and Ben, with your work in Las Vegas as well. Let's say that ..."
">> Yeah, I think it's a that's an actually very important and underrated idea because one of the things that we've seen is that uh because of the shortage um many police departments have lowered their..."
"We can pick on Vegas because they've got a pretty good technology stack. >> Um, you got to go crime by crime. So, gun if you have a gun violence problem, which Vegas has some, you need gunshot detecti..."
"like if you're growing up outside of the system um and the most viable way to make a living is crime then you know that is a career path. And so by reducing law enforcement you create a crime career p..."
">> Yeah. >> And you don't just change that overnight with more social work. And I think like I've seen programs at least where, you know, they their phrase is more, you know, at promise versus at risk..."
"why sort of the I don't know if it's the clear clearance rate or just the sort of rate at which we catch you murders or or solve crimes has has been dropping and and you know >> Yeah. Well, I think I'..."
">> Let's go deeper on Vegas as a as a case study. Ben, what has most surprised you in your in your work um with Vegas or or what do you think other cities can learn from the the work that you guys are..."
"very stressful job. It takes 12 months to train somebody. It's all this kind of thing. Um, and you know, they everybody was quitting. They five minute call waits for 911. Imagine waiting on hold for f..."
">> Yeah. It seems like some people are scared about a world in which there's so little trust in in the police that basically everyone is getting private security, you know, all these neighborhood um >..."
">> Yeah. G, why don't you say more on the on the policy side in terms of are are there certain cities where certain policies are are much more effective that others should learn from or >> Yeah. Well,..."
"who want to defund the police have massive private security. >> Yeah. It's a Yeah. If you've got three guys walking around with you all the time, you feel fine. >> But I also think like for me at leas..."
">> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so, so there's probably two, there's two big levers that a city can pull. So, one is retention. So, we were before Flock was started, there was other companies in this space and..."
"problem in in this country or was you you mentioned earlier >> a big disorganized crime problem? >> Well, I will I will say though that the the se sheer sophistication of of some criminal groups is ac..."
">> Garrett, talk about what the world looks like in a world where flock achieves its goal. Like what's the future of policing? You know, flock camera on every block. Like talk talk about Yeah, I think..."
">> Just quick last one story. Don't you have a couple stories of of of you actually saving like a baby? >> Oh, I mean we we helped return over 450 missing children this year. Oh my god. >> And that's ..."