Here’s How To Find Out If You’ve Been ‘Flocked’ In Illinois And Iowa

We all know about the Flock cameras.

Flock Safety, which is the largest supplier of fixed license plate cameras, have made their presence known with hundreds of thousands of cameras across 49 states.

They're controversial because they store more than the car's make, model, time, and plate. They also process bumper stickers, dents, or things like bike racks. It can show the route that the car took, which is a huge source of arguments.

Flock cameras photograph the car and add the images to searchable databases. Flock says they can help police by solving crimes, recovering stolen cars, and find missing people. Civil rights organizations argue that the same technology can be used to track people not suspected of crimes as they go to workplaces, medical clinics, religious places, or political events.

One (former) officer used a Flock camera to follow her boyfriend's ex-wife.

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The website Have I Been Flocked lets you look up your license plate by state to see if/what images of your car that Flock cameras have obtained. Depending on what records are available, you may even be able to see how often an agency searched for you, the reasons they gave for looking you up, and whether the plate appeared in the logs.

Flock says that, unless local or contracts specify otherwise, the cameras automatically delete data after 30 days.

You can also see the peak times for your local Flock cameras to be working. For Davenport, most of the Flock pictures taken are around 3:00 p.m. For Rockford, the peak time is around 11:00 a.m.