Resource guide

Flock Cameras: What They Record, What They Miss, and Data Rules

A direct guide to Flock Safety cameras, patented Vehicle Fingerprint searches, data sharing, public controversy, and municipal contract terms.

Last updated October 02, 2026 2705-word guide Editor Ban the Bots

Key takeaways

Flock cameras are solar-powered, motion-activated automated license plate readers that take still photographs of passing vehicles and connect over LTE.
Flock says its cameras do not use facial recognition and do not currently measure speed; Kent County, Michigan says its system provides no live video or audio recording.
Flock markets a patented Vehicle Fingerprint search that filters by body type, make, color, roof racks, bumper stickers, damage, and after-market changes, letting users search for a vehicle with a partial or missing plate.
Flock says data deletes after 7 days by default, Kent County, Michigan keeps images for 30 days, and the ACLU says Flock caps retention at 1 year, so retention is set per agency.
Flock contract terms state that customer data belongs to the customer and that Flock shall not sell customer data.
The ACLU says about 75% of Flock's roughly 5,000 police customers take part in Flock's National Lookup network.
Multiple cities including Lynnwood, Washington, Asheville, North Carolina, and Harrisonburg, Virginia have voted to end or terminate their Flock contracts.

What Flock Cameras Are and What They Record

Flock cameras are solar-powered, motion-activated automated license plate readers (ALPR) that photograph passing vehicles, catalog license plates and visible vehicle traits, and store those records in a searchable law enforcement database. Flock Safety was founded in February 2018 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Flock says it has "+12,000 customers across the US" and operates a network generating ">20B reads/month across 49 states."

Flock says its cameras capture "license plate, make, model, color, and other visible characteristics like bike racks, trailers, or toolboxes," and that they "focus on vehicles, not people." A transparency page from Kent County, Michigan notes that the system captures still images of the vehicle's rear and plate, alongside the date, time, and location of the vehicle capture. Police can search these records.

In Norfolk, Virginia, one resident's car was photographed 475 times in 4.5 months, WHRO reported. For background on roadside camera technology across other vendors, read our guide to automated license plate readers.

What a Flock Camera Looks Like and Where It Is Mounted

A Flock camera is typically a pole-mounted unit paired with a solar panel, and its appearance varies by model. Flock describes its Falcon camera as solar-powered, motion-activated, "infrastructure-free," connected over Long-Term Evolution (LTE) cellular networks, and working 24/7 in any weather.

A Sussex County, Virginia sheriff's page describing the Falcon Flex says it weighs under 5 pounds, runs on a solar panel of 60W or less, and features a "covert industrial design." Flock calls the solar-powered design "infrastructure-free." The camera connects over LTE, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says Flock is cloud-only.

To check where local cameras stand, visit our guide on finding cameras using the Flock camera map.

Vehicle Fingerprint: Searching Without a Plate

Flock markets a patented "Vehicle Fingerprint" search, according to a Sussex County, Virginia sheriff's page. This capability allows investigating officers to look for vehicles even when a license plate number is unavailable. Flock says its Vehicle Fingerprint search lets users look for a vehicle with a partial or missing plate.

The patented software lets investigators filter collected images by specific physical traits: body type, make, color, roof racks, bumper stickers, damage, and after-market changes.

The ACLU notes that Flock offers free-form artificial intelligence (AI) search of imagery. For more on biometric tracking technologies that identify people rather than cars, review our overview of facial recognition.

What Flock Cameras Do Not Do

Flock Safety says "Flock cameras do not use facial recognition" and they "are not designed to search for people, scan faces, or track individuals." Kent County, Michigan states that its deployment captures still images of the vehicle's rear and plate, date, time, and location, and "does not provide live video, audio recording, facial recognition, or continuous GPS tracking."

Flock says its cameras "do not currently measure vehicle speed." Jalopnik reports Flock takes roughly "6 to 12 or so pictures of a vehicle as it passes by." Flock separately sells a Speed Feedback Trailer that pairs a plate reader with check-your-speed signage. Jalopnik points out that dedicated speed cameras measure vehicle speed with radar or LiDAR equipment, which standard Flock cameras do not use. To see how these tools differ, read our breakdown of Flock cameras vs speed cameras.

Several cities told residents their Flock cameras would not be used for traffic tickets. For instance, El Paso stated: "these are not traffic enforcement cameras. They do not issue tickets, do not monitor speed, and do not generate revenue." However, in Coffee County, Georgia, the Georgia State Patrol wrote a motorcyclist a phone-in-hand ticket citing "CAPTURED ON FLOCK CAMERA"; the ticket was later dismissed in court, 404 Media reported in March 2026. Whether standard cameras capture interior cabin views or audio is not confirmed in vendor specifications, though Kent County explicitly rules out audio recording on its equipment.

How Long Flock Data Is Kept and Who Owns It

Data retention policies vary by source and contracting agency. Flock's own explainer states: "By default, data automatically deletes after 7 days unless local law requires something different." Kent County, Michigan states on its transparency portal that images are kept "for 30 days unless lawfully preserved."

An ACLU report from August 2026 says Flock defaults to 7 days with a 1-year maximum, with periods longer than the default needing official approval. Because individual municipal contracts define these retention schedules, residents must verify their own city council's contract terms to determine their local deletion window.

Flock's contract terms state that "all right, title, and interest in and to Customer Data belong to and are retained by Customer" and "Flock shall not sell Customer Data." Under those terms, the customer agency, not Flock, owns the data. Sharing beyond operating the service requires the customer's written authorization.

Who Can Search Flock Data

The ACLU reported in August 2026 that about 75% of Flock's roughly 5,000 police customers take part in Flock's "National Lookup" network. This setup allows participating police agencies to search vehicle records captured by cameras deployed outside their local jurisdiction.

Flock states on its website: "Flock does not work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)," "Flock does not have a contract with ICE," and that ICE has no direct access "unless the agencies that control their data expressly and deliberately allow it." Flock says sharing with federal agencies is off by default, and that since January 2026 an agency can turn off all federal sharing "with a single toggle in Admin Settings." Flock lists past federal pilots with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2021 to 2023, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Flock says that in August 2025 it publicly announced it would no longer conduct pilot projects with federal agencies, and that federal agencies are not part of statewide or national lookup networks.

Records show ICE, which had no Flock contract, worked through local police. In May 2025, 404 Media reported, using public-records data from the Danville, Illinois police department, more than 4,000 nationwide and statewide lookups by local and state police tied to ICE or immigration. Officers typed search reasons such as "immigration," "ICE," and "ICE WARRANT."

In August 2025, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said Flock broke a 2023 Illinois law, which bans sharing plate-reader data to enforce immigration or abortion-related laws, by giving CBP access to Illinois data through a pilot; he ordered the access shut off. Flock's CEO said "We clearly communicated poorly," paused federal pilots, and disagreed with the legal claim, NPR Illinois reported. For deeper reporting on interstate records access, read our explainer on Flock Safety data sharing.

Why People Object and What to Do Next

Civil liberties organizations have raised concerns regarding political tracking, out-of-state investigation access, and constant roadside surveillance. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) obtained records of more than 12 million searches logged by more than 3,900 agencies between December 2024 and October 2025. The EFF found hundreds of searches tied to protests (50501, Hands Off, No Kings). The EFF also reports a Johnson County, Texas search connected to a woman's self-managed abortion that reached 6,809 networks and 83,345 cameras.

Legal challenges over roadside camera systems are proceeding in multiple states:

In Norfolk, Virginia, residents Lee Schmidt and Crystal Arrington, represented by the Institute for Justice, sued over the city's 176 Flock cameras. On January 27, 2026, federal judge Mark Davis ruled for the city, writing that ALPR surveillance "could become too intrusive... at some point" but "at least in Norfolk, Virginia, the answer is: not today," as reported by WHRO. Schmidt's car had been photographed 475 times in 4.5 months; the plaintiffs said they would appeal.
In Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and others sued on September 10, 2026, asking that police get a warrant before searching Flock data, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2026 decision in United States v. Chatrie, which the suit describes as finding a Google location-data search was a Fourth Amendment search, as reported by Minnesota Lawyer.
Washington State SB 6002, signed in late March 2026, keeps plate-reader data 21 days unless needed as evidence; bans use for immigration enforcement, tracking protected activity such as free speech, and abortion-related investigations; bars collection near protected health facilities, immigration facilities, schools, courts, food banks and places of worship; and requires access logs kept for two years, as reported by The Daily Herald.

Several local governments have canceled or voted against renewing contracts:

Lynnwood, Washington voted 7-0 on February 23, 2026 to cancel its Flock contract, after reporting that out-of-state and federal agencies had searched the network for immigration enforcement, as reported by The Daily Herald. Lynnwood had 25 plate readers on a two-year contract worth $171,000.
Asheville, North Carolina's council voted 5-2 on August 25, 2026 to terminate its Flock contract, ordering hardware removed and data access and sharing suspended, Fox Carolina reported.
Harrisonburg, Virginia's council voted 4-0 in July 2026 to end its Flock contract, according to 29News.
Cortland, Ohio announced on September 2, 2026 that it would not renew its 10-camera contract at $3,000 per camera, citing "a lack of funding," WFMJ reported. In Lynchburg, Virginia, council members proposed ending their contract, where each camera costs about $3,000 a year with a $500 early-termination fee per device, WSET reported.
The EFF reports that Austin, Evanston and Eugene also canceled or refused to renew their Flock contracts.

Residents tracking hardware in their neighborhoods can check public mapping tools. DeFlock, built by Will Freeman on OpenStreetMap, is a crowdsourced map where users add plate-reader camera locations and the direction they face, as documented by 404 Media. In November 2024 it listed more than 1,700 US cameras, and an August 2026 count of OpenStreetMap plate-reader tags found 127,878 in the United States. Many police departments host a public transparency portal at transparency.flocksafety.com/<agency>. For instance, the Kent County, Michigan Sheriff's Office portal covers 62 cameras, and portals like it can show usage policy, audit information and which agencies have access. Have I Been Flocked explains how to request agency audit logs; logs download in 31-day increments, and it says to expect a reply in about 2 to 5 weeks. For community organization steps, see our guides on how to get Flock cameras removed, whether Flock cameras are legal, fighting back, and AI lawsuits.

Comparing Flock Safety and Axon ALPR Systems

Flock says it runs a nationwide network, and the ACLU says Flock is cloud-only, whereas Axon deploys its Fleet 3 in-car video system with built-in ALPR. The following table contrasts both vendors across primary operational dimensions based on manufacturer statements and civil liberties evaluations.

Feature or Policy Criterion	Flock Safety	Axon
Network Sharing Model	Flock says it runs a nationwide network; the ACLU says about 75% of Flock police customers use National Lookup.	The ACLU says Axon sharing requires explicit department-by-department agreement rather than an automatic national network.
Search Capabilities	The ACLU says Flock offers free-form AI search of imagery; Flock markets a patented Vehicle Fingerprint search.	The ACLU says Axon offers structured vehicle-attribute search rather than free-form imagery queries.
Default Retention Limits	Flock defaults to 7 days; the ACLU says Flock caps retention at 1 year.	The ACLU says Axon allows indefinite retention at the customer's discretion with no hard cap.
Federal Hotlist Access	Accesses FBI National Crime Information Center (NCIC) records, including ICE's Immigration Violator hotlist, according to the ACLU.	Accesses FBI NCIC records, including ICE's Immigration Violator hotlist, according to the ACLU.
Installation Architecture	The ACLU says Flock is cloud-only; Flock says it offers solar and AC power.	The ACLU says Axon offers local installation; Axon sells Fleet 3, an in-car video system with built-in ALPR, and Flock says Axon's fixed Outpost "was announced in April 2025."

When selecting surveillance regulations, the ACLU advises that municipal contract terms matter more than vendor choice: local officials should mandate short retention periods of 48 hours at most, prohibit nationwide data sharing networks, block federal agency access, and ban automated AI analytics. To review hardware procurement budgets across municipalities, check our analysis of Flock camera cost and our comparison of Flock Safety vs Axon.

Residents seeking to verify how digital surveillance interacts with mobile devices can check our guides on whether someone is tracking your phone and how to protect your privacy online.

FAQ

What is a Flock camera?

A Flock camera is an automated license plate reader made by Flock Safety that photographs passing vehicles, logs license plate details and physical traits, and uploads records to a searchable database for police customers. Flock says the cameras run on solar power and connect over LTE. The company was founded in February 2018, is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and says it has "+12,000 customers across the US."

Do Flock cameras use facial recognition?

Flock says its cameras do not use facial recognition, are not designed to search for people, do not scan faces, and do not track individuals, and Kent County, Michigan says its system does not provide facial recognition. Flock says its cameras "focus on vehicles, not people," and Kent County, Michigan says its system captures still images of the vehicle's rear and plate.

Can Flock cameras see inside your car?

Flock says its cameras capture the plate, make, model, color and visible traits and "focus on vehicles, not people," and Kent County, Michigan says its system takes still images of the vehicle's rear and plate. Kent County's documentation notes that cameras take rear-facing still images of vehicles rather than recording continuous video feeds or cabin audio. The vendor's stated software models are configured to identify external attributes such as roof racks, bumper stickers, and vehicle damage.

How long do Flock cameras keep data?

Retention varies by agency; Flock says data deletes after 7 days by default, Kent County keeps images for 30 days, and the ACLU says Flock caps storage at 1 year with extensions beyond the default requiring official approval. Under Flock's contract terms, customer agencies own their collected data, meaning municipalities determine their own retention and deletion policies within vendor constraints. In Washington State, SB 6002 limits non-evidentiary plate reader retention to 21 days.

Can Flock cameras give you a ticket?

Flock says its cameras do not currently measure speed, and El Paso told residents its cameras "do not issue tickets," but in Coffee County, Georgia, a trooper wrote a phone-in-hand ticket citing "CAPTURED ON FLOCK CAMERA" that was later dismissed in court, 404 Media reported. Flock says its cameras "do not currently measure vehicle speed," though Flock sells a separate Speed Feedback Trailer. Several cities told residents their Flock cameras would not be used for traffic tickets.

To inspect your community's active surveillance hardware, check your police department's public records portal to review your town's Flock camera contract terms and retention settings.

External sources for further verification and rights context:

Frequently asked questions

▸ What is a Flock camera?

▸ Do Flock cameras use facial recognition?

▸ Can Flock cameras see inside your car?

Flock says its cameras capture the plate, make, model, color and visible traits and focus on vehicles, not people, and Kent County, Michigan says its system takes still images of the vehicle's rear and plate.

▸ How long do Flock cameras keep data?

▸ Can Flock cameras give you a ticket?

Flock says its cameras do not currently measure speed, and El Paso told residents its cameras do not issue tickets, but in Coffee County, Georgia, a trooper wrote a phone-in-hand ticket citing CAPTURED ON FLOCK CAMERA that was later dismissed in court, 404 Media reported.