HAS YOUR VEHICLE LICENSE PLATE BEEN SCANNED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT?

What is Flock Automated License Plate Recognition?

Flock Safety is a company that provides cameras with AI-powered software in an attempt to both deter and investigate crime. It uses automated license plate recognition–ALPR–to scan and collect both license plate information and vehicle information. With the information and data collected, law enforcement agencies can share information between them to investigate crimes involving a vehicle or movement.

How is this not illegal?

This kind of technology is not illegal because courts have set a precedent for no expectation of privacy on public roads. In other words, because these vehicles are on public roads and the cameras document the exterior aspects of the vehicle that are in plain view, people should not expect privacy and do not have that right. However, in California, certain Democratic lawmakers have continuously attempted to restrict the use and application of the technology that Flock employs to no avail (CalMatters).

This effort has been spurred by at least 50 cases of police officers misusing the technology, such as attempting to find a man who wrote an article criticizing a Kansas police department or tracking immigrants who did not commit crimes nor have warrants out for their arrest (Washington and ACLU).

What do I need to know?

While there are growing regulations to how the information can be shared between states, there is a nationwide database that law enforcement agencies can access. Further, there are higher chances of your vehicle being recorded by one of these cameras if you live in a densely populated such as Los Angeles given the company already has over 120,000 cameras (Flock).

The website “Have I Been Flockrd” can inform those who use it if their license plate has been searched in the Flock search data base. As mentioned above, there are numerous reports of police officers misusing the technology. For instance, immigrants are especially at risk of being targeted by this technology given that ICE and CBP have used Flock to find immigrants (ACLU).

Lastly, the website for Flock Safety states clearly that the technology only captures information of the vehicles it scans, not the people. It has aided in finding missing persons and assisting in investigations (Flock).

If you or a loved one is facing criminal charges in California and you are concerned, contact our office today to schedule a confidential consultation and discuss your legal options, locally at or at our Toll-Free number at (866) 695-6714, or click here.

Sources:

Flock: https://www.flocksafety.com/

Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/02/how-police-officers-used-vastnetwork-cameras-spy-their-exes/

ACLU:https://www.aclu.org/campaigns-initiatives/get-the-flock-out CalMatters – https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/08/california-flock-license-plates-bill/