POLICE USED FLOCK TO SEARCH VEHICLES CONNECTED TO POLITICAL PROTESTS

Our Take

Credit where it's due: Manifestation Academy did the legwork of digesting EFF's massive public-records haul — over 12 million Flock search logs from more than 3,900 agencies — and surfacing the part that should alarm anyone who still thinks this network is just for stolen cars and AMBER Alerts. When a search log is literally labeled with a protest's name or a group like DxE, that's not a coincidence. That's a camera network built to find getaway cars being repurposed to find the people who showed up to a rally.

The agencies will say context matters, and sometimes it does — a threat is a threat regardless of venue. But EFF didn't just estimate this pattern, they pulled the actual search records, and the volume across dozens of departments during No Kings and similar demonstrations suggests something more systemic than a few bad actors. Once a nationwide plate-reading grid exists, the temptation to use it against whoever is inconvenient — protesters, activists, journalists — is baked in. There's no technical wall stopping it, only policy, and policy is only as good as the audit trail behind it, which is exactly what made this reporting possible in the first place.

This is why knowing what's watching your street matters. Check our camera map to see what's already deployed near you, and if your city is considering Flock or renewing a contract, head to our take-action page for the tools to push back before the cameras go up and the search logs start filling with your plate.