'Have I been Flocked?' How to find out if your license plate number has been searched – Houston Chronicle

‘Have I been Flocked?’ How to find out if your license plate number has been searched  Houston Chronicle

Flock cameras have caused debate across Texas and the United States, as the powerful surveillance technology has been increasingly used by police departments and installed by cities, homeowners associations, school districts and businesses. Now, those curious if they've been tracked using the cameras can check for themselves. WHY DO FLOCK CAMERAS EXIST: Houston police use a powerful surveillance tool to track vehicles. But they're not explaining why How can I check if I've been Flocked? The website, haveibeenflocked.com, allows a user to type in their license plate number. Then the website will send back information on search results, letting someone know if an operator on the Flock system asked the database for their license plate through Flock.

"This user is not necessarily a police officer, and a search does not imply you were stopped or investigated," the FAQs on the site read. "Search policies vary, but many police agencies do not require a warrant or even suspicion to perform a search." The data does not show if you've passed a Flock camera while driving, only records of searches done by Flock's customers. Where does the data come from? The data on the website includes "audit logs" that track searches made within the Flock system, which are acquired by open records requests. "The dataset is incomplete; few governments provide easy access