Police departments and private companies across the United States are increasingly investing in mass surveillance tools in the name of public safety and crime reduction. In recent years, thousands of cities have installed Flock Safety cameras, which include a type of camera being sold as automated license plate readers (ALPRs) that are actually much more powerful than that. Flock cameras expand recordings beyond barcode style readings of license plates and records all traffic, analyzes it using an AI algorithm and uploads the data unencrypted to a national surveillance platform, runs the data against sometimes faulty “hit lists,” and then stores the data in a manner that permits access by law enforcement and Flock users everywhere.
These small, unassuming cameras allow police to potentially sit with unblinking eyes 24/7 on every street corner, in every parking lot, and in every neighborhood. The data captured by Flock’s cameras can reveal very private details about a person’s life, including what meetings a person attends, what doctors' offices and religious institutions they visit, who a person associates with,and even where they sleep at night.
Flock cameras, however, are different from typical license plate readers because they are not limited to just license plates. These cameras record and analyze every passing vehicle the make, model, and color of a car, and other identifiers like scratches and dents. Even a pedestrian, bicyclist, or animal who happens to be caught in the frame of a Flock camera can be swept up in the vast and unregulated Flock surveillance network.
Additionally, Flock cameras are not just being put on stationary poles. Flock has developed drones and a variety of hardware to carry its unblinking eyes.
What is Flock?
Flock Safety is a police technology company based in Atlanta, Georgia whose main product is an AI-powered search engine for a surveillance network, most often tapped by police departments across the country. The software includes recording software, as well as analytics software that allow Flock’s cameras to gather detailed information about our lives. Flock’s hardware products include solar-powered video cameras, drones, and audio detection hardware.
How do Flock's advanced ALPR cameras work?
Community Considerations
Flock in Oregon
In Oregon, at least 15 police and sheriff departments have active contracts with Flock. In addition, there may be Flock cameras in parking lots at your local shopping area that are privately owned by companies.
The expansion of mass surveillance tactics by law enforcement raises serious questions about our state and federal constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable searches that invade our privacy and surveillance that collects such large volumes of data about us that it reveals intimate details about our personal lives. Mass surveillance also presents a dangerous threat to every Oregonian, especially at a time of extreme federal aggression towards immigrants, transgender people, Black people and other communities of color, and people exercising their First Amendment rights to fight for freedom, equality, and democracy.
Although community and policy advocates have extensively investigated the current capabilities of Flock, any changes that Flock makes to their products are done silently. The already disturbing network of mass surveillance operated by Flock could expand to even more pervasive strategies and impact more Oregonians, if there are no regulations or legal consequences in place. For example, Flock is already proactively selling new technologies like automated drones.
More and more, communities across the country are coming together to reject Flock cameras in their neighborhoods. On October 8, 2025, Eugene City Council voted unanimously to turn off Eugene’s Flock cameras that had been operating since May of 2025, until further notice. Other local governments are listening. Given the significant concerns of Flock and its products, the ACLU of Oregon urges state and local leaders to staunchly oppose any Flock contract proposal that comes their way.
