More than 120,000 Flock Safety AI cameras now operate across 49 US states, processing over 20 billion vehicle scans every month. Customs and Border Protection has been granted access to more than 80,000 of those cameras, fueling a nationwide backlash that has led roughly 50 cities and counties to cancel their contracts.
Flock AI Camera – Introduction
Flock AI cameras have spread faster than almost any surveillance technology in recent American history, growing from a handful of neighborhood pilot programs into a nationwide network that now touches nearly every state in the country. Flock Safety, the Atlanta-based company behind the devices, markets its automated license plate readers to local police departments, homeowners associations, and businesses as a tool for solving crime, but the sheer scale of the resulting data network, tracking vehicle location, color, make, model, and distinguishing features, has turned the company into the center of a growing national debate over mass surveillance.
That debate intensified sharply through 2026 as reporting confirmed federal immigration authorities had gained access to tens of thousands of Flock cameras originally installed for local policing purposes. Senator Josh Hawley opened a congressional investigation into the company’s data practices, dozens of cities began canceling their contracts outright, and camera vandalism spread to at least 36 states. Understanding the actual scale of the Flock network, who can access it, and how accurate it really is helps separate the company’s own marketing claims from what independent researchers and government watchdogs have found.
What makes the Flock story distinct from earlier surveillance controversies is the sheer speed of its expansion and the breadth of its customer base. Unlike traditional government surveillance systems built through top-down federal procurement, Flock’s network grew almost entirely through thousands of separate, often lightly scrutinized local purchasing decisions made by city councils, homeowners associations, and individual police departments. That fragmented growth pattern is precisely what now makes the network so difficult to fully map, regulate, or hold accountable through any single point of oversight.
Interesting Facts
| Fact | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total Flock/ALPR Cameras Nationwide (2026) | More than 120,000 |
| States With Flock Cameras | 49 (all except Alaska) |
| Monthly Vehicle Scans | More than 20 billion |
| CBP-Accessible Flock Cameras | More than 80,000 |
| Law Enforcement Agencies Using Flock | More than 5,000 |
| Cities/Counties That Canceled Contracts (since early 2025) | ~50 |
| States With Reported Camera Vandalism | At least 36 |
| Flock Safety Company Valuation | $7.5 billion |
Source: DeFlock.org crowdsourced mapping data, Flock Safety company statements, ABC News, Bloomberg
These interesting facts about Flock AI cameras show a surveillance network operating at a scale few Americans fully grasp. With more than 120,000 cameras processing over 20 billion vehicle scans monthly, the network captures data on the overwhelming majority of vehicles on American roads, regardless of whether the driver has ever been suspected of a crime.
The 80,000-plus cameras accessible to Customs and Border Protection represent a striking expansion beyond the network’s original local-policing purpose, while the roughly 50 cities and counties that have already canceled their contracts, alongside vandalism reported in at least 36 states, point to a rapidly building backlash against the technology’s reach.
That backlash has emerged despite, or perhaps because of, how quickly the network scaled. A company valued at $7.5 billion with more than 5,000 law enforcement customers has built a surveillance footprint that in many respects now rivals or exceeds systems built by federal agencies with dedicated congressional funding and oversight structures, yet Flock’s network grew largely outside any comparable regulatory framework.
Flock Camera Network Size in 2026
| Metric | Figure | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| Total Mapped ALPR Cameras (DeFlock) | ~119,000-135,000 | Aug-Sept 2026 |
| Flock’s Share of Mapped Cameras | 80-83% | 2026 |
| States With Flock Cameras | 49 | 2026 |
| State With Most Mapped Cameras | California (16,000+) | 2026 |
| Major California Clusters | Los Angeles, Bay Area | 2026 |
Source: DeFlock.org crowdsourced mapping project, Fox News, ABC News
The Flock camera network has grown large enough that independent trackers now struggle to keep an exact real-time count. The crowdsourced DeFlock.org mapping project, which combines public submissions with OpenStreetMap data, documented roughly 119,000 readers nationwide in August 2026, a figure that climbed to more than 135,000 by early September, with Flock Safety cameras accounting for 80% to 83% of the total depending on the specific count used.
California stands out as the state with the largest concentration of mapped readers, with more than 16,000 cameras clustered heavily around Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Flock Safety itself confirms its cameras now operate in 49 of 50 states, with Alaska the sole holdout, reflecting how thoroughly the technology has penetrated both dense urban corridors and smaller towns across the country in a remarkably short period.
The gap between the various camera-count figures reported over just a few months, from roughly 100,000 in July to more than 135,000 by early September, illustrates how quickly the network continues to expand even as public opposition builds. Because DeFlock relies on volunteer submissions and OpenStreetMap contributions rather than an official government or company registry, researchers caution that even the higher figures likely undercount the true total, since many cameras installed on private property or in less-mapped rural areas may not yet appear in the crowdsourced dataset at all.
License Plate Scans and Data Collection in 2026
| Data Point | Figure |
|---|---|
| Monthly Vehicle Reads (Flock, company-reported) | More than 20 billion |
| Approximate Reads Per Second | 157 |
| Data Captured Per Scan | Plate number, color, make, model, distinguishing marks, location, time |
| Share of Scanned Vehicles Linked to Any Crime | Less than 1% |
| Rate of State Misreads on Scanned Plates | About 1 in 10 |
Source: Flock Safety company blog (February 2026), ACLU “Fight Creepy ALPR Cameras” campaign
Flock’s own February 2026 company blog post put the network’s monthly volume at more than 20 billion vehicle reads across 49 states, a figure that works out to roughly 157 scans every second around the clock. Each scan captures far more than the plate number itself; Flock’s AI system logs a vehicle’s color, make, model, and distinguishing features such as bumper stickers, roof racks, or visible damage, stitching the results into a searchable historical record of where a given vehicle has traveled over time.
The scale of that data collection stands in sharp contrast to how rarely it actually connects to criminal activity. The ACLU’s “Fight Creepy ALPR Cameras” campaign cites data showing less than 1% of vehicles scanned by these systems are ever linked to any crime or wrongdoing, while roughly 1 in 10 plate reads misidentify the vehicle’s state of registration entirely, raising questions about how a database built on such a low hit rate and meaningful error rate is being used and retained by the thousands of agencies with access to it.
Flock Cameras and Federal Immigration Enforcement in 2026
| Fact | Figure |
|---|---|
| Flock Cameras Accessible to CBP | More than 80,000 |
| Federal Agencies With Reported Database Access | Immigration enforcement agencies (reported) |
| Company Response | Disputes some characterizations of data-sharing scope |
| Public Reaction | Contract cancellations, vandalism, congressional scrutiny |
Source: TechSpot, Boing Boing, TechCrunch reporting on CBP access and federal data sharing
The discovery that Customs and Border Protection had gained access to more than 80,000 Flock cameras, many of which were originally installed under contracts with local police departments for ordinary crime-fighting purposes, became one of the year’s most consequential revelations about the network. Reporting throughout 2026 documented that plate databases collected through locally purchased cameras had been shared with or made accessible to federal immigration enforcement agencies, a use case that many of the local governments who originally approved the camera purchases say they never anticipated or authorized.
ICE Detention Statistics in the U.S documenting the scale of the current immigration enforcement surge provide useful context for why the Flock-CBP connection generated such intense backlash, since the same period saw immigration detention populations reach record levels nationwide. Public anger over this specific use case, rather than concerns about local policing generally, appears to have been the single biggest driver behind the wave of camera vandalism and contract cancellations that accelerated through the second half of 2026.
Accuracy and Error Rates of Flock Cameras in 2026
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Flock’s Claimed Accuracy Rate | 90% to 99% | Company marketing materials |
| California PD Analysis Failure Rate (2023-2024 data) | 71% failure rate on stolen/felony vehicle matches | Independent department analysis |
| State Misread Rate | ~10% | ACLU analysis |
Source: Company statements, independent California police department analysis, ACLU
A significant gap has emerged between Flock’s own accuracy claims and what independent analysis has found in practice. The company markets its license plate readers as achieving accuracy rates between 90% and 99%, figures commonly cited in sales materials and public statements. However, an internal analysis conducted by a California police department examining its own 2023 and 2024 usage data found a 71% failure rate specifically when it came to matching vehicles flagged as stolen or connected to felony investigations, a far cry from the near-perfect accuracy the company advertises.
Deportation Statistics in the US tracking the broader enforcement environment help illustrate the stakes of these accuracy gaps, since a database with meaningful error rates feeding into high-consequence enforcement decisions, whether for stolen vehicle recovery or immigration status checks, carries real risk of misidentifying innocent drivers. The roughly 10% state-misread rate documented separately by the ACLU compounds this concern, since a single incorrect state identification could send an officer chasing the wrong vehicle entirely or misattribute a scan to an unrelated person’s driving history.
Contract Cancellations and Backlash Against Flock in 2026
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Cities/Counties Canceling Contracts (since early 2025) | ~50 |
| States With Reported Camera Vandalism | At least 36 |
| Political Composition of Opposition | Both privacy-focused liberals and data-wary conservatives |
| Notable Vandalism Methods | Sawing down devices, shooting cameras |
Source: NPR, Boing Boing, ABC News reporting on Flock contract cancellations and vandalism
Public opposition to Flock’s expanding footprint has translated into concrete action across a broad and politically diverse coalition. Roughly 50 cities and counties have canceled their Flock contracts or switched their cameras off entirely since early 2025, a trend reporters have described as accelerating rather than slowing as public awareness of the federal data-sharing arrangements grew. Camera vandalism, including incidents where devices were sawed down or shot, has now been documented in at least 36 states, according to NPR reporting cited by multiple outlets.
Immigration Statistics in US covering this year’s record enforcement numbers help explain why opposition to Flock has crossed traditional political lines so cleanly. Privacy-focused progressives object to the mass collection of ordinary drivers’ movement data, while data-wary conservatives, including some who otherwise support strong immigration enforcement, have raised concerns about a private company amassing a searchable nationwide surveillance database with limited public oversight or standardized retention rules across the thousands of agencies that hold access to it.
Congressional Scrutiny of Flock Cameras in 2026
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Senator Leading Investigation | Josh Hawley |
| Investigation Focus Areas | Data access, retention, sharing, errors, and misuse |
| Senator’s Core Argument | Congress never authorized this nationwide surveillance network |
| Total Flock Customers (including non-camera products) | More than 6,000 |
Source: Comptonchamberofcommerce.org reporting, TechCrunch, Bloomberg
Senator Josh Hawley opened a formal congressional investigation into Flock Safety’s data practices in 2026, examining how the company’s cameras access, retain, share, and potentially misuse the license plate and vehicle data collected across its network. Hawley’s central argument centers on the scale of the network relative to the near-total absence of federal authorization or oversight, noting that a system processing more than 20 billion scans a month across 49 states grew almost entirely through individual local government purchasing decisions rather than any coordinated federal policy or congressional mandate.
Flock Safety, valued at $7.5 billion, counts more than 6,000 total customers across its full product suite, which extends beyond license plate readers to include camera-equipped drones, gunshot detection devices, and related security software. That customer base spans nearly every state, giving the company an unusually broad footprint for a technology that, until recently, drew relatively little public attention outside the specific communities where individual cameras were installed.
Flock AI Camera Statistics – FAQ
How many Flock cameras are currently operating in the US?
More than 120,000 automated license plate reader cameras are documented nationwide as of 2026, with Flock Safety accounting for roughly 80% to 83% of the total.
How many license plate scans does Flock process each month?
Flock’s own reporting states the network processes more than 20 billion vehicle reads every month, or roughly 157 scans per second.
Which states have Flock cameras?
Flock operates in 49 of 50 states, with Alaska as the only state without a reported Flock presence.
Does Customs and Border Protection have access to Flock cameras?
Yes. Reporting confirmed CBP was granted access to more than 80,000 Flock cameras, many originally installed under local police contracts.
How accurate are Flock’s license plate readers?
The company claims 90% to 99% accuracy, but an independent California police department analysis found a 71% failure rate on stolen and felony vehicle matches using 2023-2024 data.
How many cities have canceled their Flock contracts?
Roughly 50 cities and counties have canceled contracts or switched off their Flock cameras since early 2025.
Has there been vandalism against Flock cameras?
Yes. Camera vandalism, including devices being sawed down or shot, has been reported in at least 36 states.
What percentage of vehicles scanned by Flock are linked to a crime?
Less than 1% of vehicles scanned are connected to any crime or wrongdoing, according to ACLU analysis.
Who is investigating Flock in Congress?
Senator Josh Hawley opened an investigation into Flock’s data access, retention, sharing, errors, and potential misuse.
How many law enforcement agencies use Flock cameras?
More than 5,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide have contracted with Flock Safety for access to its camera network.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
