haveibeenflocked.com
HaveIBeenFlocked.com is a free public-record search website that lets people check whether a license plate appears in known audit logs of searches made through the Flock license-plate surveillance system.
What does HaveIBeenFlocked.com actually show you?
The website collects audit logs that record searches made by users of Flock's automated license plate reader system.
You can enter a license plate and see whether that plate appears among the searches collected by the site.
As of September 2026, the homepage says its collection covers more than 243 million Flock searches involving about 4.69 million different plates.
A result means someone using the Flock system searched for that plate.
It does not mean a Flock camera saw the car at that exact time.
It also does not prove that the driver was suspected of a crime.
The operator may have entered a reason, case number, plate number, or other information when making the search.
Where does all this Flock search data come from?
HaveIBeenFlocked.com says its database comes from audit logs released as public records.
Many of these records are obtained through Freedom of Information Act and other open-records requests sent to government agencies.
Some records also come from agency transparency portals.
This makes the database useful for research, but it also creates an important limit.
The database is not a complete copy of every search ever made through Flock.
Some agencies provide records while others provide little data or heavily redact what they release.
The site's methodology pages explain its sources, duplicate handling, police roster matching, and name-resolution methods.
Does the website tell you where your car was seen?
No, and this is one of the easiest parts of the service to misunderstand.
The results represent searches made inside Flock rather than a complete history of camera sightings.
Flock's system uses automated license plate reader cameras that can capture passing vehicles and index details such as plate numbers and vehicle characteristics.
HaveIBeenFlocked.com says the wider Flock network includes more than 120,000 cameras and connected devices.
The website does not give you a live feed from those cameras.
It instead helps reveal how information inside that larger surveillance system has been queried.
Can you find out why somebody searched your plate?
Sometimes the public audit record contains a stated reason for a search.
HaveIBeenFlocked.com also provides a reason search tool for exploring words found in records.
The search can cover fields such as reasons, case numbers, operator names, plates, and text prompts.
This can help researchers spot searches connected with topics such as theft, warrants, traffic stops, immigration enforcement, or other activities.
However, a short reason in an audit log does not tell the whole story behind an investigation.
The site's FAQ recommends requesting additional public records from the agency responsible for a specific search when more context is needed.
How current are the search results?
HaveIBeenFlocked.com is not a real-time tracking service.
A search can appear months or even years after it happened because the site must first obtain the relevant audit records.
This means finding nothing for your plate does not prove nobody has searched for it.
It only means the plate was not found within the records currently available to the website.
The site's updates page shows when new agency datasets and features are added.
Does HaveIBeenFlocked.com save the plate you enter?
The site states that it does not save, store, or log license plate numbers or search terms entered into its lookup tool.
It says each query is processed and then immediately discarded by the application.
Its privacy page also explains how the project handles sensitive information found inside public records.
People can contact the project when personally identifiable information appears without proper redaction.
Who operates HaveIBeenFlocked.com?
HaveIBeenFlocked.com states that it is not affiliated with Flock Safety or any government agency.
The project says it is fiscally sponsored by the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation while remaining editorially independent.
Its stated goal is public oversight of mass license-plate surveillance.
The site goes beyond individual plate searches by publishing reports about First Amendment activity, immigration enforcement, scanner deployment, account sharing, search patterns, and other uses of Flock data.
Is HaveIBeenFlocked.com worth using?
HaveIBeenFlocked.com is most useful as an accountability tool because it turns hard-to-find public audit records into information ordinary people can search and understand.
Its biggest strength is also its biggest limitation because every result depends on records that agencies have actually released.
A match can reveal that a plate was queried, while no match cannot guarantee that the plate was never queried.
That distinction makes the site useful for investigation and public-interest research without making it a complete record of Flock surveillance.