Flock Safety cameras are automated license plate readers (ALPRs) — networked cameras that photograph every vehicle that passes, log the plate, timestamp, and location, and feed it into a searchable database that police departments across the country can query. They're mounted on highways, at neighborhood entrances, and outside ordinary businesses in thousands of communities, whether or not you've ever done anything to draw attention.
How to find out if they're near you
Most Flock contracts are public record. A public-records request to your city or county — often just an email — will tell you whether a contract exists, what it covers, and who has access to the data. Some community mapping projects also track known camera locations, though coverage varies by area and isn't guaranteed to be complete or current.
Know your rights
License plates are visible in public, so photographing them generally isn't the legal issue — the issue is what happens after: how long the data is kept, who can search it, and whether federal or out-of-state agencies can access a local database for reasons that have nothing to do with why it was installed. Those are the questions worth asking at a city council meeting before a contract is renewed, not after.
Go deeper
We wrote a full breakdown of how these systems work, the legal fights currently underway, and what's actually worked for communities pushing back, in our blog: The Watching Eye on Every Corner.
For a practical, ongoing guide to this and other surveillance systems — plus what to actually do about each one — see Ghost Protocol, our field guide to the surveillance state.