The EFF’s Atlas of Surveillance has documented over 3,000 law enforcement agencies using Flock products as of 2025. According to the ACLU of Massachusetts, local plate scans funnel into a national pool accessible to departments well outside their own jurisdictions. Flock’s standard contracts reportedly allow data disclosure to other agencies for investigative purposes, even when local departments attempt to restrict access.

Flock describes itself as a “vehicle data only” platform — no biometrics, no personally identifiable information, thirty-day default deletion. The ACLU of Oregon offers a sharper counter: “an AI-powered search engine for a surveillance network” that records every passing vehicle, not just suspects. The EFF reported that more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies conducted hundreds of Flock searches related to protest activity over 10 months. That’s not targeted policing. That’s pattern-harvesting at scale.

Now It Wants Your AirPods Too
Newer roadside sensors link Bluetooth signals from personal devices directly to a specific license plate.

Systems like Leonardo’s SignalTrace take the surveillance logic further. Roadside sensors scan for Bluetooth and wireless signals — your phone, smartwatch, earbuds — then algorithmically match devices that consistently travel together to a specific plate. Leonardo calls this “non-intrusive intelligence gathering.” Think of it as ad-tech cookies, except the tracking pixel is roadside hardware operated by law enforcement rather than a banner ad network. Your AirPods were never supposed to be a secretly tracking users beacon. Neither was your Garmin.