How to Find Flock Cameras Near You
How-To Flock Safety ALPR PrivacyThere are over 85,000 Flock Safety ALPR cameras operating across the United States right now — scanning license plates, building vehicle profiles, and uploading your movement data to a cloud database shared with 3,000+ law enforcement agencies. No warrant required.
Most people have no idea how many are near them. This guide shows you exactly how to find out.
Skip the guide — just show me
Search your city or zip code on the UnFlocked map. Free, no account required.
Open the Camera Map →What Does a Flock Camera Look Like?
Identifying a Flock Safety camera in the wild
- Shape: Small, rectangular black box — roughly the size of a hardback book
- Mounting: Usually on a pole, traffic light arm, or neighborhood entrance sign
- Facing: Angled toward the road, not toward a building or parking lot
- Lens: One large front-facing lens (for plates) often with visible IR illuminators — small circular dots around the lens for night vision
- Solar models: Some units have a small solar panel on top
- Location: Most commonly at neighborhood entrances, major intersections, freeway on-ramps, and school zones
- Branding: May have a small "Flock Safety" label, but many do not
The easiest way to spot one: look for a small black box mounted at about 10-15 feet high, facing traffic, with no obvious building or property it seems to be securing. If it's pointed at the road rather than a door or parking lot, it's likely an ALPR.
5 Ways to Find Flock Cameras Near You
Use UnFlocked (fastest)
Go to unflocked.org/app and search your city, address, or zip code. The map shows every reported Flock camera with direction arrows, camera type, installation year, and a Google Street View link. Filter by camera type. Toggle the heat map to see density. Free, no account required.
Check your zip code surveillance score
Go to unflocked.org and enter your zip code in the surveillance score widget. You'll get an instant grade (A through F) and an estimated camera count within 50 miles of your location.
Submit a public records request
Your local police department is required to respond to public records requests (FOIA at the federal level, equivalent laws in every state). Request: their Flock Safety contract, the number of cameras operated, their data retention policy, and any audit logs. This gets you official confirmation of what's operating in your area.
Check DeFlock directly
DeFlock.me is the open-source crowdsourced database that UnFlocked uses as its primary data source. You can browse their map directly. UnFlocked adds additional features on top — direction arrows, filtering, route planning, surveillance scores — but DeFlock is the underlying data layer.
Look at your HOA or local government records
Many Flock cameras in residential areas are operated by homeowners associations, not police departments. Check your HOA meeting minutes, neighborhood Facebook groups, or Nextdoor for mentions of camera installations. City council meeting agendas and minutes are also public record and often contain contract approvals for Flock cameras.
How to Check Your Daily Commute
The most practical use for most people: finding out how many cameras are on your daily route to work.
- Open unflocked.org/app
- Click the Explore tab in the sidebar
- Enter your home address and work address in the "My commute exposure" section
- Hit Analyze My Commute
You'll see every camera on your route, the camera type, the city, and the coordinates. At the bottom: estimated scans per day, per week, and per year based on a typical two-way commute.
UnFlocked does not store your route or address. Everything is calculated in your browser and sent directly to the routing API — we never see it.
What to Do With What You Find
Once you know where the cameras are, you have options:
Route around them
UnFlocked Pro (coming soon) will calculate a privacy-optimized route that avoids Flock cameras. Enter your start and destination, and it finds a path with fewer — or zero — camera encounters.
Know your rights
Choosing to drive on different roads to avoid surveillance cameras is completely legal in every US state. See our full FAQ for more on the legal landscape.
Check your state's laws
Some states have meaningful ALPR oversight laws (Maine, Montana, Vermont). Most have nothing. Our state laws guide breaks down protections in every state.
Report missing cameras
If you spot a camera not on the UnFlocked map, open the Report tab in the app and drop a pin. Every report improves the map for everyone.
How Accurate Is the Data?
UnFlocked uses crowdsourced data from DeFlock supplemented by community reports. Coverage is extensive — especially in major metro areas — but not guaranteed to be complete. New cameras are installed regularly. Some cameras may have been removed or relocated since data was last updated.
Camera data is for informational purposes only. Do not rely solely on UnFlocked data for any security-critical decision. Routes are privacy-optimized, not guaranteed camera-free.
The best approach: use UnFlocked to understand the general surveillance landscape in your area, then verify specific cameras you're concerned about through public records requests or direct observation.