Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

  • Short Reads

|

What We Know – and Don’t Know – About Flock’s License Plate Cameras

By

Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are high-speed camera systems that automatically photograph every license plate that passes them. When networked together and paired with specialized software, they can reconstruct where a vehicle has been over a period of days or weeks. The technology was initially developed in the United Kingdom in the mid-1970s to aid in terrorism investigations and is now used widely by public safety agencies in the United States.

Flock Safety, founded in 2017, is the leading ALPR vendor. The company estimates that its cameras were used to help with more than 1 million law enforcement investigations in 2025. But there have also been abuses of the company’s technology, including multiple investigations into stalking and misconduct by law enforcement. As a result, some lawmakers in Congress have proposed bills to more tightly regulate ALPRs – or potentially ban them outright.

Here is what we know and don’t know about Flock cameras, based on data from Flock and other sources. In this analysis, the phrase “Flock cameras” specifically refers to the company’s license plate reader technology. We use the phrases “law enforcement agency” and “public safety agency” interchangeably.

About this research

This Pew Research Center analysis looks at the locations and reported usage of Flock automated license plate readers, better known as “Flock cameras.”

Why did we do this?

Pew Research Center does research to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important topics. This analysis builds on our recent work about technology policy issues.

Learn more about Pew Research Center.

How did we do this?

Data on the number and locations of Flock cameras comes from OpenStreetMap, a crowdsourced mapping project. We used the Overpass API and filtered it to nodes tagged as “surveillance,” “ALPR” and “Flock Safety.” The data is current as of Sept. 17, 2026.

Because OpenStreetMap relies on volunteer mapping rather than an official inventory, camera counts should be read as a lower-bound sample rather than a complete count. Coverage may be uneven across regions depending on local mapping activity. Read more about OpenStreetMap’s data model and methodology.

Data on individual agencies’ self-reported camera and search statistics comes from EyesOnFlock, a project that scrapes the public “transparency portals” Flock Safety provides to its customers. The data reflects 1,517 agencies that had an active public portal as of Sept. 21, 2026.

In addition, we used the U.S. Census Bureau’s urban-rural classification, state and county geographies, population estimates and tract demographics information to analyze the geography, population and demographics of neighborhoods with mapped Flock cameras.

How many Flock cameras are out there?

States with the most Flock cameras per 100K residents
Number of Flock automated license plate readers (ALPRs) per 100,000 residents, by state
Chart
Source: Pew Research Center analysis of 109,577 Flock ALPR nodes from OpenStreetMap (accessed Sept. 17, 2026); U.S. Census Bureau 2025 population estimates.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
States with the most Flock cameras per 100K residents
Number of Flock automated license plate readers (ALPRs) per 100,000 residents, by state
StateFIPSNumber of Flock cameras per 100k residentscamera_countpopulation
Georgia1380894411180878
Ohio3951602411883304
Texas48491531831290831
Indiana184833286924275
Alabama014724485157699
Kansas204312722970606
Tennessee474330837227750
Illinois1742532012710158
Missouri294024816245466
California06391545039431263
Colorado083621245957493
Kentucky213516074588372
South Carolina453518935478831
Louisiana223415534597740
New Mexico35337052130256
Mississippi28339682943045
Florida1232752023372215
Delaware10313271051917
Arkansas05319433088354
North Carolina3730328111046024
Michigan2630300110140459
Arizona042922317582384
Oklahoma402811334095393
Virginia512824338811195
Wisconsin552716185960975
Rhode Island44262941112308
Washington532519597958180
Iowa19257963241488
Utah49227873503613
Nevada32227253267467
Minnesota272212495793151
Nebraska31193802005465
Connecticut09176403675069
Idaho16173372001619
North Dakota3815123796568
South Dakota4614133924669
Massachusetts25149877136171
District of Columbia111390702250
New Jersey341211519500851
Maryland24117186263220
Wyoming561166587618
West Virginia54111891769979
Pennsylvania4211138913078751
New York3610203319867248
Oregon4183244272371
Montana305581137233
Hawaii154651446146
Maine233461405012
Vermont50319648493
New Hampshire331131409032
Alaska020.11740133
Download data as .csv
Source: Pew Research Center analysis of 109,577 Flock ALPR nodes from OpenStreetMap (accessed Sept. 17, 2026); U.S. Census Bureau 2025 population estimates.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER

There are more than 100,000 Flock cameras in the United States. But the exact number varies from source to source:

  • In a statement to The Washington Post in August 2026, Flock claimed that it had over 120,000 cameras in 6,000 communities.
  • Volunteer mappers on OpenStreetMap have listed roughly 110,000 Flock license plate readers. These cameras make up about 80% of all the ALPRs on OpenStreetMap.
  • The Flock Surveillance Map list, created by a private researcher, has found as many as 175,000 Flock cameras nationwide.

Where are Flock cameras located?

Flock does not publish a list of where its cameras are located, so we used crowdsourced data from OpenStreetMap to see where these cameras are most prevalent.

Around half of all Flock cameras are in just five states. Collectively, California, Texas, Georgia, Florida and Ohio have just over 53,000. That is 49% of all Flock cameras identified on OpenStreetMap.

The states with the most cameras per 100,000 people are Georgia, Ohio and Texas, followed closely by Indiana and Alabama.

Multiple urban areas have thousands of Flock cameras
Number of Flock automated license plate readers (ALPRs) in each county
Source: Pew Research Center analysis of 109,577 Flock ALPR nodes from OpenStreetMap (accessed Sept. 17, 2026).
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Multiple urban areas have thousands of Flock cameras
Number of Flock automated license plate readers (ALPRs) in each county
CountyStateCounty GEOIDNumber of Flock cameras
Harris CountyTexas482013490
Los Angeles CountyCalifornia060372457
Riverside CountyCalifornia060652013
Dallas CountyTexas481131572
Cook CountyIllinois170311433
Maricopa CountyArizona040131289
Fulton CountyGeorgia131211244
Orange CountyCalifornia060591149
Tarrant CountyTexas484391054
Santa Clara CountyCalifornia060851021
San Bernardino CountyCalifornia06071934
DeKalb CountyGeorgia13089902
Gwinnett CountyGeorgia13135899
Wayne CountyMichigan26163879
Alameda CountyCalifornia06001809
Cuyahoga CountyOhio39035788
Shelby CountyTennessee47157782
Cobb CountyGeorgia13067759
Broward CountyFlorida12011740
San Diego CountyCalifornia06073695
St. Louis CountyMissouri29189668
Sacramento CountyCalifornia06067641
Franklin CountyOhio39049638
Marion CountyIndiana18097633
Fort Bend CountyTexas48157631
Collin CountyTexas48085608
Jefferson CountyAlabama01073602
Palm Beach CountyFlorida12099595
Jefferson CountyKentucky21111594
Denton CountyTexas48121583
Hamilton CountyOhio39061574
DuPage CountyIllinois17043566
San Mateo CountyCalifornia06081560
Oakland CountyMichigan26125509
Contra Costa CountyCalifornia06013507
Bexar CountyTexas48029502
Sedgwick CountyKansas20173468
Travis CountyTexas48453453
Clark CountyNevada32003429
Miami-Dade CountyFlorida12086426
San Francisco CountyCalifornia06075419
Orange CountyFlorida12095417
Yakima CountyWashington53077410
Will CountyIllinois17197409
King CountyWashington53033408
Kern CountyCalifornia06029404
San Joaquin CountyCalifornia06077404
Polk CountyFlorida12105394
Solano CountyCalifornia06095388
Hillsborough CountyFlorida12057383
Mecklenburg CountyNorth Carolina37119383
Hennepin CountyMinnesota27053375
Oklahoma CountyOklahoma40109374
Sonoma CountyCalifornia06097357
Arapahoe CountyColorado08005348
Lake CountyIllinois17097348
Volusia CountyFlorida12127343
Montgomery CountyTexas48339331
Montgomery CountyOhio39113330
Pinal CountyArizona04021320
Nassau CountyNew York36059315
Wake CountyNorth Carolina37183311
Jackson CountyMissouri29095309
Snohomish CountyWashington53061306
Bell CountyTexas48027304
Chatham CountyGeorgia13051298
Lucas CountyOhio39095293
Kane CountyIllinois17089291
Galveston CountyTexas48167290
Tulsa CountyOklahoma40143288
Summit CountyOhio39153286
East Baton Rouge ParishLouisiana22033275
Pinellas CountyFlorida12103274
Butler CountyOhio39017271
Williamson CountyTexas48491267
Fairfax CountyVirginia51059259
Santa Barbara CountyCalifornia06083257
Jefferson ParishLouisiana22051257
Winnebago CountyIllinois17201256
Salt Lake CountyUtah49035252
Middlesex CountyNew Jersey34023250
Milwaukee CountyWisconsin55079248
Suffolk CountyNew York36103244
Macomb CountyMichigan26099241
Placer CountyCalifornia06061240
Duval CountyFlorida12031240
Rutherford CountyTennessee47149239
Fresno CountyCalifornia06019237
Douglas CountyColorado08035234
Genesee CountyMichigan26049234
St. Johns CountyFlorida12109231
Hidalgo CountyTexas48215228
Brevard CountyFlorida12009227
Hamilton CountyIndiana18057226
Providence CountyRhode Island44007225
Brazoria CountyTexas48039225
Richmond CountyGeorgia13245222
Davidson CountyTennessee47037222
Cherokee CountyGeorgia13057220
Ventura CountyCalifornia06111218

Data table shows the top 100 counties with the most Flock cameras. Click here to download the full data.

Download data as .csv
Source: Pew Research Center analysis of 109,577 Flock ALPR nodes from OpenStreetMap (accessed Sept. 17, 2026).
PEW RESEARCH CENTER

Download the full county-level data for where Flock cameras are located

These cameras are highly concentrated in urban areas. Roughly 80% of all cameras are in urban areas. The Atlanta and Houston metro areas each contain more than 4,000 Flock cameras, while Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth have more than 3,000 apiece.

Flock cameras are also slightly more likely to be in lower-income neighborhoods than higher-income ones. But these differences are relatively modest, and Flock cameras exist in large numbers in communities with varying income levels and racial compositions.

OpenStreetMap shows who owns or operates 12% of these cameras. Most cameras for which this information is available are operated by law enforcement agencies.

How many public safety agencies use Flock cameras?

The main tools for understanding how public safety agencies use Flock cameras are Flock’s transparency portals. These opt-in pages allow agencies to share information with the public about their Flock usage, as well as their policies for things like data sharing and retention.

According to Flock, more than 1,500 agencies maintain a public transparency portal, although the company does not publish the full list. However, the organization EyesOnFlock tracks and compiles the information disclosed on these portals. As of Sept. 21, 2026, the EyesOnFlock database contains 1,517 agencies that have published transparency portals.

All told, these agencies list 39,465 total cameras, which is 36% of all the Flock cameras listed on OpenStreetMaps. But this share varies greatly from state to state.

In states like Virginia and California, the number of cameras listed in these agency transparency portals is very similar to the number listed on OpenStreetMap. But in others, these portals contain just a fraction of the total. For instance, just 6% of cameras listed on OpenStreetMap in Florida are accounted for in a transparency portal. And in Pennsylvania, that share is just 2%. This means that in some states, the vast majority of Flock cameras are officially disclosed as being owned by law enforcement. In others, this type of disclosure is much less common, so their ownership is murkier.

What do these agencies disclose about their Flock usage?

Agencies that choose to publish a Flock transparency portal can also choose what information to disclose. The vast majority of agencies with a transparency portal indicate how many total cameras they have (93%) and how long they retain the data their cameras collect (96%).

Agencies using Flock cameras differ in what data they disclose
% of law enforcement agencies with a Flock transparency portal that disclose …
Chart
Source: Pew Research Center analysis of 1,517 agencies with public Flock transparency portals, as reported by EyesOnFlock (accessed Sept. 21, 2026).
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Agencies using Flock cameras differ in what data they disclose
% of law enforcement agencies with a Flock transparency portal that disclose …
FieldPercent disclosed
How long they retain their data96
How many cameras they have93
How many searches they have made90
Whether they share their data with other organizations66
Information about individual searches50
Download data as .csv
Source: Pew Research Center analysis of 1,517 agencies with public Flock transparency portals, as reported by EyesOnFlock (accessed Sept. 21, 2026).
PEW RESEARCH CENTER

The median agency with a published transparency portal has 12 Flock cameras and retains its camera data for 30 days. This was the platform’s default data retention period until August of this year, when Flock lowered it to seven days.

About two-thirds of these agencies disclose whether they share the data their cameras collect with other organizations. The agencies that disclose this information reported sharing their data with a median of 217 other organizations – primarily other law enforcement entities.

Some states, like California, limit this type of data sharing. As such, California’s data sharing is largely contained within the state. But in states like Florida and Ohio, law enforcement agencies can share this data across dozens of other states.

Why and how often agencies conduct Flock searches

Through their transparency portals, public safety agencies also sometimes disclose their search activity, including logs of when each search was run and why. About half of the organizations in the EyesOnFlock database share any information about their searches, while the rest do not.

The most common reason given for searches is simply some form of the word “investigation.” This was mentioned in 19% of searches where a reason was added. Flock recently replaced its open-text reason field with a drop-down menu and says it will require a case number on every non-emergency search by the end of the year.

A USA Today investigation published in September requested raw search logs directly from 120 law enforcement agencies across 24 states. Those logs, spanning three-and-a-half years, showed that more than 200,000 users had conducted 75 million searches covering nearly 4 million unique license plates during that time. That’s about 59,000 searches per day.

Topics

Download Skyler Seets's photo

Skyler Seets is a computational social science assistant at Pew Research Center.