Police Keep Using Flock License Plate Cameras to Stalk People
The short version: StartMail's new video spotlights a growing pattern: officers abusing Flock ALPR access to track exes, neighbors, and strangers for personal reasons, not public safety.
Our Take
Credit to StartMail for pulling together what too many local news stories treat as isolated incidents: police officers across the country using Flock Safety's license plate readers to track people for personal reasons — ex-partners, love interests, people they have a grudge against. These aren't hypothetical risks civil liberties groups warn about. They're documented cases of badge-holders treating a surveillance network built on "public safety" promises like a personal stalking tool.
This is the predictable outcome of building a nationwide, always-on vehicle tracking system and then asking departments to police themselves on misuse. Flock's audit logs are only as good as the people reviewing them, and the company's own transparency reports have shown how rarely questionable searches get flagged, let alone punished. When the tool exists, someone will eventually use it for the wrong reasons — and the person being tracked usually has no idea their comings and goings are sitting in a searchable database until it's too late.
If you want to know how exposed your own neighborhood is, check our camera map to see where these readers are already deployed. And if your city council hasn't had a real debate about Flock contracts, audit policies, or officer accountability, our take-action page has the tools to start pushing back before the next misuse story is about someone you know.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of StartMail, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.