A tech company with 80,000 surveillance cameras embedded across American highways and parking lots has become an unexpected tool for police misconduct, with officers accessing license plate data to track romantic interests, exes, and potential dates.
Flock, which sells automated license plate readers (ALPRs) primarily to law enforcement agencies, has created a vast database of vehicle movements that officers can search with minimal oversight. The company's default agreements with police departments allow data sharing with federal and local agencies for "investigative purposes," giving the system reach far beyond local departments.
The Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, documented at least 14 cases where officers allegedly misused Flock data to track "romantic interests, including current partners, exes, and even strangers who unwittingly caught their eye in public." While most of the officers involved faced criminal charges and job loss, the real number of abuses is almost certainly higher. Many cases go undetected, and victims may never report misconduct by law enforcement out of fear.
One victim only discovered they had been tracked after searching their own license plate on HaveIbeenFlocked.com, a website that lets people check if they have been the subject of a Flock search. Without such tools, countless victims would remain unaware they were surveilled.
The ease of access is the core problem. Police officers need only type a brief explanation into a "reason" field to access the database, with no warrant required. A 2025 Electronic Frontier Foundation analysis found that police departments have used Flock networks to monitor activist groups and investigate protests. Civil liberties organizations have called for warrant requirements, but Flock's current system treats surveillance like a simple database query.
The scope of misuse extends beyond romantic stalking. A Texas sheriff's office used Flock to track a woman suspected of self-managing an abortion, searching 6,809 camera networks across multiple states and even states where abortion access remains legal. The search record simply stated the reason as "had an abortion, search for female."
Flock has also faced scrutiny over data sharing with immigration enforcement. Various police departments have shared driver surveillance data with ICE as part of the Trump administration's deportation efforts, despite the company's claims that it "does not work with ICE."
The company announced updates this year to incorporate safeguards limiting federal access and restricting some data sharing. Yet these measures came only after sustained criticism, and dozens of towns have already dropped Flock over concerns about how broadly its technology can be misused.
Flock CEO Garrett Langley has publicly stated his goal of using surveillance technology to eradicate nearly all crime in the US within a decade. The company is now expanding beyond license plate readers into a drone surveillance program. Whether such ambitions can coexist with actual civil liberties remains an open question, particularly when the system gives every officer a powerful tool with virtually no friction to access personal movement data.
Author James Rodriguez: "A database this massive paired with this little oversight is an invitation for abuse, and the documented cases prove it's already happening."
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