Short answer: Yes. A Flock camera's core job is to photograph your license plate, log where and when,
and check it against law-enforcement databases. That's what the product is.
What happens when your car passes a Flock camera
- The camera reads your plate — day or night, in most weather.
- The system records the plate, timestamp, location, and vehicle descriptors (make, model, color, features).
- It checks the plate against hotlists: stolen vehicles, wanted plates, AMBER alerts, missing persons.
- If there's no match, the record is typically stored anyway (for a period set by local policy and state law).
So even a "clean" plate gets logged. The number of days that record is kept ranges from zero (deleted immediately) to years, depending entirely on where you are — see the state legality board for what's reported in your state.
Who can look at the data?
Beyond your local police, access depends on the agency's data-sharing agreements. A notable example: out-of-state police were found to have accessed Silicon Valley license plate reader data, which triggered a privacy controversy in California (US News, AP). "Who can access this" is often just as important as "what's recorded."
What you can do
- Ask your police department for their ALPR retention and access policy.
- File a public records request for the Flock contract in your city.
- Check if your city has already acted — see the ban tracker.
- Use privacy tools like Have I Been Flocked where available to see if your plate has been scanned.
Note on this site: FlockWatch does not collect, store, or share license plate or location data —
nothing you do here is tracked.
Related questions
Do Flock cameras track speed?
No — they're plate readers, not speed cameras. Full answer →
Do Flock cameras record video?
Plate capture is the core; video depends on the agency's configuration. Full answer →
How far can Flock cameras read a plate?
Fixed cameras read plates from a distance — commonly reported at 100+ feet depending on conditions. Full answer →