What the FlocK
LISA HOBBS – News Editor
As the controversy over Flock Security Cameras continues to rage nationwide, some politicians are speaking out against them.
“Going to the doctor? Flock knows. Dropping your kid off at school? Flock is tracking you. Flock is always watching. We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement,” Senator Bernie Sanders stated in a press release.
He, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Jeff Merkley have teamed up to introduce a bill to ban automatic license-plate readers in the U.S. after some law enforcement officers have been accused of misusing the technology.
H.R. 10691 was introduced on Oct. 1. If successful, it would prohibit the use of automatic license plate readers by the Federal Government without explicit statutory authorization. The bill would both prohibit federal agencies from ALPR usages and pause federal grant funding to state and local governments with ALPR contracts. It would also allow Americans to sue the federal government for the use of ALPRs.
Flock, a surveillance hardware manufacturer, is known for its automated license plate reader, ALPR. Flock’s plate readers not only record license plate numbers but also specific details about a car to create what the company calls a “vehicle signature.” These details include the make, model and color of the car along with unique features like bumper stickers, decals and accessories. The cameras do not include facial recognition.
According to the Institute for Justice, over 100 documented cases show officers using Flock for “romantic stalking, wrongful stops, non-law enforcement use, and other misconduct.”
According to information released by Flock, in 2025 alone the technology contributed to approximately 20 percent of cleared cases in jurisdictions where it is deployed, assisting in solving serious crimes such as assault, robbery, motor vehicle theft, and homicide, as well as locating missing persons and recovering stolen vehicles.
The company states that the cameras assist in over one million criminal investigations annually, with the cameras locating more than 10,000 missing people per year and nearly half of Flock customers report recovering 50 percent or more of stolen vehicles in their jurisdictions.
McMinnville Police Department has seven in use. Chief Nichole Mosley says the cameras have been a beneficial tool that has assisted the department in solving crimes.
“I think most people don’t understand what Flock cameras actually are,” she stated. “They aren’t watching your every move. They aren’t watching you go to the store. They are a tool to help us solve crimes. If we’re investigating a crime and we have a vehicle’s tag number or a description, we can place that into the system. If that vehicle passes a camera, it will send an alert that this vehicle passed this camera at this time. That’s it.”
To prevent misuse, Mosley says the city has established procedures.
“Every agency has their own perimeters on using it. Here, you must inform your supervisor that you need to enter something and why. When you get onto the system, you have to put in a case number or a vehicle description. You have to put the reason for the audit – why you’re doing it. We can go back and do an audit. Anything can be misused, I guess, but there are consequences for that action. We haven’t had any issues. All agencies shouldn’t be lumped into the same bunch that they are all bad, bad, bad. It has been a good tool for us, and we’ve had no instances of misuse.”
Mosley says the cameras have helped the department solve numerous crimes, as well as helped locate a dementia patient.
“There was a missing person out of Indiana. They had been missing for a week. The vehicle was entered onto a hotlist, which is what they call it. When that vehicle entered our jurisdiction, our officers got an alert. It passed through this area at this time. One of our officers was going home to Cookeville, got behind that vehicle and alerted Sparta to make a traffic stop. He was an elderly man with dementia. He didn’t know where he was. So, he was located by Flock. This isn’t a camera system that’s monitoring your every little move that everyone makes. It looks for the vehicle that’s been placed on the hotlist. That’s it.”