Well, flock that.
A website called “Have I Been Flocked” is drawing attention by gathering Flock audit logs and giving drivers a way to check whether their license plate has been searched through law enforcement agencies’ Flock camera networks.
According to the site, a plate appearing in its database does not simply mean the vehicle was captured by a camera. It indicates that someone using the Flock app or web platform actively searched for that specific license plate in the system.
The audit logs can also include the explanation provided by the law enforcement user for why the license plate was looked up, the website says.
However, the database does not reveal whether or when a vehicle drove past a Flock Safety camera.
The site also cautions that people searching Flock databases are not always police officers, and a listing in the tool should not be taken as proof that a driver was the subject of an investigation.
The searchable collection of audit logs was assembled through FOIA and public records requests submitted to 6,586 agencies nationwide, though the site notes that some records may be missing, outdated or only partially available.
“The dataset is incomplete; few governments provide easy access to these logs, and the records we obtain are often redacted,” the site’s organizers warn.
Flock is a private, for-profit technology company that operates over 120,000 AI-powered cameras that actively record vehicle data from public spaces and share the data with police departments and local governments.
Those in favor of the camera systems argue they are a valuable tool for law enforcement.
But backlash against the camera system is mounting, with those opposed citing privacy concerns.
One Flock-hating Long Island resident splattered two of the cameras with paint, unplugged them, and ran over one on the weekend of July 4, according to the Southold Police Department.
In another incident last month, a pick-up truck-driving vigilante in California ran over three Flock cameras in Monterey County, according to the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.
