Flock cameras are on people’s minds lately, and not in a good way. On July 25, The Guardian reported on 33 acts of vandalism against the cameras in 23 states, and on July 30, CNN had similar reporting, describing vandals as people who believe the increasingly ubiquitous Flock camera is a surveillance camera that violates people’s privacy.
The reason behind the controversy is no mystery, says security expert Aimee Simpson: “Ostensibly, these cameras are to track stolen vehicles. But by having them constantly recording and capturing data from cars that pass by them, they build up a perfect record of all the car movements across a general area.” Because they record license plate numbers, they can also track vehicle owners’ movements.
This post briefly explores what Flock cameras are, why more and more of them are appearing in city streets, and why and how activists are mobilizing against them.
What is a Flock Camera?
When I first heard the term Flock camera, I thought of a surveillance camera that observed people en masse — as in flocks — but that’s not what the term means at all, although it may not be far off.
A Flock camera is an automated license plate reader (ALPR) manufactured by the American company Flock Safety. It’s designed to capture and store information about every car that passes in front of it — primarily the license plate number, but also the make, model, color and condition of the vehicle. According to Flock, it does not use facial recognition to capture data about occupants, nor can it determine how many occupants are in the vehicle. That’s comforting, but it doesn’t have to do those things to supply troves of personal information to anyone with access to the data it does store.
An individual Flock camera is typically mounted on a pole next to a roadway, with an adjoining solar panel to supply power. I’s part of network that collects data from all the cameras connected to it in a central database. “From a data perspective,” says Simpson, “a record of these cameras could map out someone’s entire life. When they go to work, the route they take, if they go to the gym, what supermarket they go to, where their friends live, etc.” In other words, while a Flock camera may not be marketed as a surveillance camera, it can definitely act like one depending on who’s looking at the data.
Why Communities Are Installing Them
According to Flock, its cameras are crime-fighting tools that authorities can use to track stolen vehicles and vehicles involved in criminal acts. According to Berkeleyside, a community publication in Berkeley, California, there are 52 Flock cameras installed throughout the city, and the Berkeley Police Department says they are a valuable tool for its chronically understaffed force.
In Berkeley, Flock cameras have led to arrests for such crimes as commercial burglary, homicide and sexual assault. The jury is still out on whether they have any general effect on crime rates, but a study conducted in Dallas suggests that they do make arrests more likely for crimes committed near the cameras.
The Privacy Concerns Driving Opposition
It’s unsettling enough to have a record of your daily movements stored by the police department and other legitimate authorities, but what if that information leaks? “If Flock aggregates this data, it could be extremely valuable in the wrong hands, both making Flock a target for hackers and for third-party agencies trying to buy data,” says Simpson.
Flock data can also be misused. According to the Guardian, police offices have used it to track cars for personal reasons, and some have used it to find people with identifying traits that the cameras can see, such as tattoos, clothing or racial features. Moreover, ICE has been known to use Flock data to track the movements of immigrants it seeks to deport, using a heat map generated by the cameras. An investigation conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union found that the company hasn’t been straightforward about this particular feature, or ICE’s use of it.
Anti-Camera Activism
Activists across the country who claim that a Flock camera is actually a surveillance camera have resorted to a number of actions, including cutting the cameras down with saws, throwing paint on them or blocking the lens with tape. The Guardian states that, as of the date of publication of its story, there have been 33 such incidents in 23 states. A pair of vigilantes have disabled several cameras all by themselves.
Blowback is also felt at the municipal and federal levels. According to DeFlock, a grassroots project that maps the locations of ALPRs across the country, 97 communities have deactivated Flock cameras or canceled or rejected contracts with the company to deploy them. People can use DeFlock to view a map of 115,000 ALPRs across the country and to look up potentially harmful information about themselves. In July, Texas Congressman Keith Self introduced legislation that would require a warrant before law enforcement could access data from Flock cameras.
FAQ
How long is Flock camera data stored?
According to cybersecurity expert Amy Mortlock, the default retention period of flock cameras is 30 days, after which the data is deleted (unless a customer’s policy or local law requires a different setting). “Now,” she says, “the real question is not simply how long data is stored, but who can search it, have access to it, and what safeguards are in place.”
Are Flock cameras the same as red-light cameras?
“Flock cameras are not red-light cameras,” states injury lawyer Mohammed Shariff. Red-light cameras enforce certain traffic violations, he says, whereas Flock cameras fulfill more investigative purposes by matching license plates and vehicle characteristics with vehicles associated with reported crimes. “I would ask that communities weigh the potential public safety benefits and accountability in terms of how this information is collected, accessed, retained and used,” he adds.
About the Experts
- Aimee Simpson has years of experience in the security industry. She is the Director of Product Marketing at Huntress, where she oversees its Managed ITDR and Managed SAT solutions.
- Amy Mortlock has over 15 years’ experience in cyber security. She is Vice President of Marketing at ShadowDragon.
- Mohammed Shariff is the founding attorney of The Shariff Law Firm, where he focuses exclusively on Texas personal injury litigation.
Sources
- The Guardian: Inside the growing vigilante movement to knock out Flock surveillance cameras; (2026)
- CNN: Flock cameras are getting mobbed; (2026)\
- Flock: What Do Flock Cameras Actually Capture?; (2026)
- Berkeleyside: What are Flock cameras, and why are they controversial in Berkeley?; (2026)
- ACLU: Flock Safety Credibility Lost as it Repeatedly Lies to City Councils, Police Departments, and Public Across the Country; (2026)
- DeFlock: Welcome to DeFlock; (2026)
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