THE FLOCK FILES

THE FLOCK FILES

Georgia is Flock Safety's home. The surveillance network is national. We're following both.

The Flock Files is Prison Project's continuing investigation into automated license plate readers, police access, officer misuse, government contracts, data sharing, privacy and the growing network connecting cameras across jurisdictions.

You don't have to read everything on this page to understand what's happening. Start here, follow the investigation that interests you, or use the research tools below to investigate Flock yourself.

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FLOCK IN 90 SECONDS

WHAT IS IT?
Flock Safety operates automated license plate reader technology used by law-enforcement agencies and other customers. Cameras photograph passing vehicles and create records that investigators can search later.

WHY ARE WE INVESTIGATING IT?
The controversy isn't simply about cameras. It involves who can search the information, how agencies share it, how officers use it, how long information is retained, what outside agencies can reach it and whether existing safeguards are adequate.

Georgia has an unusual stake in those questions. Flock was founded here, hundreds of Georgia agencies use its technology, and Georgia has experienced a growing series of arrests, firings and investigations involving alleged misuse of automated license plate information.

WHAT WILL YOU FIND HERE?
Prison Project investigates the Georgia story while tracking the most significant national developments. We also connect readers directly with outside researchers, court cases, mapping projects and other resources so you don't have to hunt across the internet to understand the issue.

Georgia gets investigated. National developments get tracked. The best outside research gets connected here.

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START HERE

Pick a door. You do not need to read The Flock Files from beginning to end.

🚨 GEORGIA: FLOCK ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE LAW

Our continuing investigation into Georgia law-enforcement personnel arrested, fired, investigated or disciplined over alleged misuse of automated license-plate surveillance.

20+ personnel. Multiple Georgia agencies. And we're continuing to count.

READ THE GEORGIA INVESTIGATION →

🇺🇸 THE NATIONAL FLOCK STORY

Nationwide searches, federal access, interstate sharing, cities terminating or restricting contracts, security questions and major court challenges. We follow the developments that actually matter rather than trying to catalog every mention of Flock in America.

Major national investigations and updates appear throughout The Flock Files.

🔎 INVESTIGATE FLOCK YOURSELF

Maps, independent databases, civil-liberties research, court cases, Flock's own materials and other resources for people who want to investigate what is happening in their own community.

Our curated Flock Research & Resources directory is being built below.

📄 INVESTIGATE YOUR GEORGIA AGENCY

Want to know what your sheriff or police department bought, what it cost, what policies govern it and how access is controlled?

We're building a simple Georgia Open Records request you can use yourself.

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THE LATEST FROM THE FLOCK FILES

This is where we will keep only the few developments we think matter most right now — not every Flock headline published on the internet.

LOS ANGELES SAYS FLOCK OFF

One of America's largest police departments allowed its Flock agreement to expire amid serious questions about privacy, civil liberties, data ownership and information sharing.

Prison Project dug into what happened in Los Angeles — and why Georgia should be paying very close attention.

READ THE LOS ANGELES INVESTIGATION →

GEORGIA: FLOCK ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE LAW

Arrests, firings and investigations involving alleged law-enforcement misuse continue to expand Georgia's Flock record. Prison Project is tracking the officers, agencies, allegations, charges and outcomes as the cases develop.

FOLLOW THE GEORGIA INVESTIGATION →

TEXAS: ONE WOMAN. 83,345 CAMERAS. NO WARRANT.

A Texas sheriff's investigation demonstrated the reach of a networked surveillance system: one search expanded across thousands of networks and tens of thousands of cameras far beyond the originating jurisdiction.

READ THE TEXAS INVESTIGATION →

New developments replace old ones here. The investigation underneath keeps the history.

New developments replace old ones here. The investigation underneath keeps the history.

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INVESTIGATE FLOCK YOURSELF

Prison Project isn't the only organization investigating automated license-plate surveillance — and we aren't going to pretend otherwise.

Researchers, journalists, civil-liberties organizations and independent projects have spent years collecting records, mapping cameras, analyzing searches and challenging surveillance practices.

If you're investigating Flock in your own community, these are some of the resources worth knowing about.

DeFlock — Find the Cameras

An open-source, community-built map of automated license-plate readers. Use it to explore reported ALPR camera locations and contribute information about cameras that have been identified.

EXPLORE THE DEFLOCK MAP →

Eyes on Flock — Follow the Transparency Data

An independent project that aggregates and analyzes information from Flock Safety public transparency portals, making it easier to examine participating agencies, cameras, searches and sharing information.

EXPLORE EYES ON FLOCK →

Have I Been Flocked? — Search Released Audit Logs

This independent database aggregates Flock audit logs obtained through public-records requests and other releases. The collection is incomplete, but it provides a rare window into searches actually conducted through the system.

SEARCH HAVE I BEEN FLOCKED →

Electronic Frontier Foundation — Research & Records

EFF has conducted extensive research into automated license-plate readers, Flock data sharing, search practices and surveillance mission creep. Its reporting is particularly useful for understanding what public records can reveal about how ALPR systems are actually being used.

VISIT EFF →

Institute for Justice — Plate Privacy Project

The Institute for Justice is litigating constitutional questions involving warrantless automated license-plate surveillance and maintains its Plate Privacy Project covering ALPR litigation and Fourth Amendment issues.

FOLLOW THE PLATE PRIVACY PROJECT →

Flock Safety — What the Company Says

Read Flock's own descriptions of its technology, privacy safeguards, data-sharing controls, transparency tools and public-safety benefits. Prison Project believes readers should be able to compare our reporting and outside criticism directly with the company's position.

VISIT FLOCK SAFETY →

REPORTING & ADVOCACY WORTH FOLLOWING

404 Media has broken important Flock stories involving federal access, security, internal products and surveillance practices.

FOLLOW 404 MEDIA'S FLOCK REPORTING →

ACLU maintains a national ALPR campaign with research and community resources concerning Flock and automated license-plate surveillance.

EXPLORE THE ACLU ALPR RESOURCES →

Don't take Prison Project's word for it. Don't take Flock's word for it. Follow the records, compare the sources and examine the evidence yourself.

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Georgia's Growing Surveillance Network — Investigated, Documented and Tracked

A continuing Prison Project investigation into Flock Safety, automated license plate readers, police access, privacy, government contracts and surveillance in Georgia.

Every day, automated license plate readers positioned along Georgia roads photograph passing vehicles.

They can record a license plate, vehicle characteristics, location and time.

Those observations can become searchable records.

And depending on how agencies configure and share their systems, the information available to an investigator may extend far beyond the cameras owned by that investigator's own department.

That distinction is the reason Prison Project created The Flock Files.

The cameras are the collection points. The database is the surveillance system.

Flock Safety was founded in Atlanta in 2017 and has grown into a multibillion-dollar public-safety technology company whose systems are used by thousands of law-enforcement agencies and other customers.

Georgia embraced that growth.

In April 2025, Gov. Brian Kemp participated in the opening of Flock's new 97,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Smyrna. State officials said more than 300 Georgia law-enforcement agencies and 100 businesses were already using Flock technology.

But Georgia is now confronting another side of that expansion.

During 2026, officers and deputies across the state have been fired, disciplined or arrested amid allegations involving unauthorized searches of Flock license-plate information.

Atlanta News First reported in July that it had identified at least 20 Georgia cases involving arrests, firings or other disciplinary consequences associated with alleged improper use during roughly the preceding year.

Those are not 20 convictions, and Prison Project will not treat allegations as proven facts.

They are nevertheless enough to demand serious scrutiny of a surveillance system capable of revealing where vehicles have been observed.

The Question Isn't Whether Flock Can Solve Crimes

It can.

Automated license plate readers can help investigators locate stolen vehicles, identify vehicles associated with serious crimes and find missing people.

That legitimate value is precisely why this discussion deserves more than slogans.

The real questions are harder:

• Who can search the system?
• What must they establish before conducting a search?
• How much information can they access?
• How long is that information retained?
• Which other agencies can access it?
• Who audits the people conducting the searches?
• What happens when someone with legitimate access uses that access for an illegitimate purpose?

Georgia is already confronting those questions.

The Georgia Connection

Flock isn't merely a technology company operating in Georgia.

It was built here.

The Atlanta company has expanded from license plate readers into video surveillance, audio detection, real-time intelligence systems and drones.

Georgia governments have become significant customers.

That makes this state unusually important to the national debate surrounding automated vehicle surveillance.

Georgia is simultaneously the birthplace of Flock Safety, an enthusiastic adopter of its technology and the site of a growing series of alleged misuse cases.

That combination deserves sustained investigation.

Prison Project intends to provide it.

How the Network Changes Surveillance

A single camera observing a vehicle on a public road reveals relatively little.

A searchable network containing repeated observations can reveal considerably more.

This creates two completely different questions that every Georgia community should ask its police department:

How many Flock cameras do you operate?

and

How many Flock cameras can you search?

The answers may not be the same.

That distinction is central to The Flock Files.

Surveillance power should not be measured simply by counting poles beside roads.

It must be measured by determining the information available behind the computer screen.

Georgia Already Has a Law

Georgia regulates automated license plate recognition information through O.C.G.A. § 35-1-22.

The statute restricts access to captured license plate information to law-enforcement purposes and provides criminal penalties for knowingly obtaining such information under false pretenses or for purposes other than law enforcement.

It also contains rules governing retention and sharing.

But recent Georgia cases raise a more difficult question:

Is making misuse illegal sufficient if an unauthorized search can occur before anyone discovers it?

Flock maintains audit trails and has introduced tools designed to identify suspicious search behavior.

Those controls matter.

Indeed, audits have played an important role in uncovering some of the alleged Georgia misuse now receiving public attention.

But there is an important difference between preventing a search and discovering an improper search afterward.

Accountability after surveillance occurs does not erase the surveillance.

The 30-Day / 30-Month Question

Another issue Prison Project will investigate is retention.

Flock says its default ALPR retention period is approximately 30 days.

Georgia law provides a substantially longer outer limit in certain circumstances, generally requiring destruction within 30 months unless specified exceptions apply.

That does not mean Georgia Flock customers automatically retain information for 30 months.

It means citizens need to ask another question:

How long does my agency actually retain its ALPR information?

Prison Project intends to find out.

Immigration Searches

Public records have already demonstrated why data sharing deserves scrutiny.

Atlanta Community Press Collective reported that at least 47 Flock searches conducted by five metro Atlanta law-enforcement agencies between January 22 and March 7, 2025 referenced ICE or Homeland Security Investigations.

That does not establish that every search was illegal.

It establishes something potentially more consequential:

Surveillance infrastructure purchased locally can potentially be used for purposes substantially different from those emphasized when local officials originally approved it.

A camera purchased to locate stolen cars does not know why someone later searches its records.

Purpose is determined by people, policies and law.

That makes oversight critical.

The Fourth Amendment Question

The courts have not definitively settled the constitutional limits of large automated license plate reader networks.

Litigation involving Norfolk, Virginia demonstrates how complicated the issue has become.

A federal judge initially allowed a Fourth Amendment challenge to Norfolk's Flock network to proceed in February 2025.

But on January 27, 2026, the court ultimately ruled in Norfolk's favor.

The plaintiffs are challenging that result.

The United States Supreme Court has not established a nationwide constitutional rule specifically resolving modern interconnected ALPR surveillance.

The unresolved question is enormous:

At what point does observing vehicles traveling on public roads become government tracking of people's movements?

Prison Project will follow that litigation.

Collect First. Search Later.

Traditional investigations generally begin after something happens.

Police investigate an offense and gather information concerning potential suspects.

Large ALPR networks introduce another model.

Vehicle observations are continuously collected even though the overwhelming majority of drivers are not suspected of crimes.

Investigators can search those observations later.

In practical terms:

Collect everybody first. Search somebody later.

That does not automatically make an ALPR network unconstitutional.

It does explain why these systems deserve scrutiny substantially different from an ordinary traffic camera.

The Flock Files — What We Are Building

This page will become Prison Project's permanent Georgia surveillance repository.

As the project develops, The Flock Files will include:

The Investigation

Our comprehensive examination of Flock Safety, its Georgia origins, its technology, its expansion and the questions its network raises.

Georgia Flock Misuse Tracker

A continuously updated database documenting publicly reported allegations, disciplinary actions, arrests, charges and case outcomes involving Georgia law-enforcement personnel.

Georgia Flock Contract Tracker

Which agencies use Flock, how much taxpayers are paying, contract expiration dates, camera numbers, retention settings and available information concerning sharing arrangements.

Georgia ALPR Law

A plain-English guide to O.C.G.A. § 35-1-22 and other laws affecting automated license plate surveillance.

The Open Records Project

Downloadable Georgia Open Records Act request templates designed to help citizens obtain local Flock contracts, invoices, policies, training materials and appropriate audit information.

Flock and Immigration Enforcement

Documentation concerning Georgia ALPR searches associated with federal immigration agencies.

Court Watch

Federal and state litigation concerning ALPR surveillance, warrants, privacy and the Fourth Amendment.

Flock Watch

Continuing coverage of new Georgia contracts, controversies, investigations, arrests, legislation and policy changes.

Our Standard

Prison Project is not beginning this investigation with the conclusion that Flock is inherently good or inherently bad.

We will follow the evidence.

When Flock technology helps solve serious crimes, we will say so.

When an allegation has not been proven, we will call it an allegation.

When a police department establishes meaningful safeguards, we will report them.

When government officials cannot answer basic questions about surveillance conducted in their communities, we will report that too.

And when we get something wrong, we will correct it.

This project has one objective:

Find out how Georgia's vehicle-surveillance system actually works, who can use it, how it is being used and whether the safeguards surrounding that power are adequate.

Help Us Build The Flock Files

Prison Project is seeking documents and information concerning Flock Safety and other automated license plate reader systems operating in Georgia.

We are interested in:

• Contracts and contract amendments
• Invoices and purchasing records
• Agency ALPR policies
• Training materials
• Retention policies
• Data-sharing policies
• Audit procedures
• Disciplinary investigations
• Court records
• Communications concerning Flock deployments
• Information concerning unauthorized or questionable searches

If you are a law-enforcement employee, attorney, government employee, researcher, elected official or Georgia resident with relevant information or documents, contact Prison Project.

Email: info@prisonproject.net

We will also be publishing tools ordinary citizens can use to investigate surveillance systems operating in their own communities.

Because asking how many cameras are beside the road is no longer enough.

We need to know what exists behind them.

The cameras are watching the roads.

The Flock Files will watch the system.

The Flock Files is an ongoing PrisonProject.net investigation. This page will be updated as new records, court decisions, investigations and verified information become available.