How Flock Cameras Work

What a Flock camera is

Flock Safety makes automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras: fixed cameras that photograph vehicles as they pass and turn each image into a searchable record. Flock is one of several ALPR vendors. The basic process the California State Auditor described in its 2020 review of ALPR systems applies across the industry. Cameras capture images, software extracts the plate number, and the system stores it with the date, time and location of the scan.

The agency or organization that buys the cameras is Flock’s customer. According to Flock, that customer controls who can access the data and whether it is shared with anyone else.

From passing car to searchable record

1. Capture. The camera photographs a passing vehicle, typically including the plate.
2. Plate read. Software converts the plate in the image into text. Flock says its system can search full, partial and temporary plates.
3. Vehicle characteristics. Beyond the plate, Flock says its cameras capture “key vehicle characteristics, such as make, color, and body type.” Flock markets this as Vehicle Signature and FreeForm search. This is how a vehicle can be searched for without a full plate.
4. Time and place. Each read is stored with a date and time stamp and a camera location identifier.
5. Hotlist check. The plate read is automatically compared against hotlists, which are lists of plates for vehicles of interest. Flock says alerts can come from “a customer-defined or NCIC hot list.” NCIC is the FBI’s National Crime Information Center. A match produces an alert, sometimes called a hit. See how hotlists and alerts work.
6. Search. Authorized users can search the stored records later. Flock says every search is tied to a specific user and recorded in a log. In August 2026, Flock announced that officers will be required to enter a case code for each search by the end of 2026, with emergency searches flagged for review.
7. Deletion. Records are deleted after the customer’s retention period unless they have been preserved as evidence. In August 2026, Flock lowered its recommended default from 30 days to seven. Existing customers keep the periods already approved in their jurisdictions, so the actual retention period varies by agency.

What Flock says the system doesn’t collect

Flock says its system “captures vehicles. Not people.” It states that the system does not use facial recognition and does not collect biometric data or driver information. Facial recognition is listed as “Not included. Not planned.”

These are the vendor’s descriptions of its own system. What a particular image actually shows depends on the camera’s position, the lighting and the vehicle. That’s one reason the original images, not only the text read, can matter in a case. See why vehicle identification is not driver identification.

Why each step matters in a criminal case

Each step above produces its own record, and each one can be examined separately:

• The image: is the original available, and what does it actually show?
• The plate read: does the text match the plate in the image? See plate misreads and accuracy.
• The hotlist entry: where did it come from, and was it current when the alert fired?
• The search log: who searched the data, when, and for what stated reason? See audit logs and search records.
• Retention: was the record preserved, and under what policy? Data that has been deleted can’t be recovered, so timing can matter.

For the full list of data points, see what data license plate readers collect.