Why should I care?
Maybe you don't care that a camera reads your plate. The bigger question is what happens after it does.
Why Should I Care?KNOW WHO'S WATCHING
What do they know about you?
A growing number of communities have added cameras that do more than take a picture of your plate. Here's how to find out what's near you, what it can actually do, and what your community agreed to.
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Benjamin Franklin · 1755
START WITH WHAT YOU'RE ACTUALLY WONDERING
What can these cameras actually see?
More than a plate. Make, color, and distinguishing details, sometimes even without a readable plate at all.
Why It MattersWas my plate ever searched?
A search and a sighting aren't the same thing. We'll explain the difference and point you to where a real answer might exist.
Was My Plate Searched?Where are the cameras near me?
We don't keep a camera map. But we'll show you where to look, how to identify what's operating in your community, and what to ask when the answer isn't public.
CommunitiesWhat are my rights here?
Learn what information you can request, what your state's public-records law may allow you to obtain, and where to start when the answers aren't public.
Know Your RightsWHY THIS ISN'T JUST ABOUT ONE CAMERA
The decision is local. The reach isn't.
Every one of those questions has a local answer: your community, your department, your contract.
But a city council voting on cameras is a real, local decision, made by people you can call or vote against. Once those cameras join a searchable, shareable network, what was purchased can end up reaching other departments, other states, sometimes federal agencies, without anyone in that community ever voting on that broader reach specifically.
That gap, between the local decision and the network it joins, is the reason this site exists.
Why It MattersWHAT THE RECORDS CAN SHOW
Michigan City, Indiana
We obtained the contracts, purchase records, grant documents, and other public records behind Michigan City's Flock system. Here's some of what they establish.
CAMERAS
60 Falcon cameras contracted
RETENTION
30 days under the existing agreement
RENEWAL
Automatic
VEHICLE DATA
Searchable characteristics beyond a plate number
There's also an unresolved data-sharing question. ABC57 reported that Assistant Chief Kyle Shiparski said camera data is deleted after 30 days and would not be shared outside of the Michigan City Police Department. Flock's own transparency portal lists hundreds of outside organizations as having access to Michigan City Police Department data.
The community profile shows the records behind those findings, what Michigan City has spent, the proposed $300,000 expansion, and what still needs an answer.
See the Michigan City Records & FindingsNOW WHAT
Curiosity is the start. This is where it goes next.
Once you know what your community has, the next questions are practical: when does the contract renew, who decides, and how do you actually get the records?
Take Action walks through exactly that, including where to go outside FlockIt when that's genuinely the fastest path to an answer.
Take ActionSUPPORT THE WORK
Wear the question. Fund the records requests.
FlockIt.info is independently run and not affiliated with Flock Safety, any law enforcement agency, or any political organization. Records requests and research take real time.
Merchandise helps fund that work, and puts "What do they know about you?" in front of more people.
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