How to FIND OUT if Your Police Use Flock Cameras (Step by Step) 2026
The short version: A walkthrough from Answer ASAP on checking whether your local police run Flock ALPR cameras is a reminder that this surveillance often operates in the dark.
Our Take
Credit to Answer ASAP for putting together a practical guide on figuring out whether your local department has quietly rolled out Flock Safety's license plate readers. The fact that this kind of tutorial even needs to exist says a lot about how this technology gets deployed: minimal public notice, little press coverage, and departments that would rather you not ask too many questions. Most residents only find out their town is wired with ALPR cameras after spotting the solar-paneled poles themselves or digging through city council minutes.
That information gap is exactly the problem. Flock cameras log every passing vehicle — plate, location, timestamp, sometimes make and color — and feed it into a shared network that can be queried by agencies far outside your city limits. Most people never consented to that kind of tracking, and most never get told it's happening until a records request forces it into the open. Self-serve detective work like this video offers shouldn't be the only way citizens learn their movements are being logged.
If you want a shortcut, check our camera map to see what's already been documented near you, and if you find something missing or want to push back on a local deployment, our take-action page has concrete next steps.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Answer ASAP, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.