Police use Flock to search license plates. Now there's a viral website to see if yours was one of them.

The nationalist statement complete Flock Safety's license-plate scholar exertion has turned a website built by a erstwhile package technologist into a sensation.

Hundreds of thousands of group a time are visiting "Have I Been Flocked?" — the database created successful October 2025 by Cris van Pelt arsenic he grew disillusioned pinch the tech industry.

"It's exploded complete the past week," van Pelt told Business Insider past week, providing screenshots of postulation information that showed the tract peaked astatine 60,000 unsocial visitors each 2 hours.

Flock's exertion is utilized successful much than 6,000 communities crossed 49 states, according to the company, and has been credited pinch helping constabulary lick superior crimes and find suspects.

It's besides sparked caller sermon astir constabulary surveillance — and "Have I Been Flocked?" was caught successful the correct spot astatine the correct time. It lets users plug successful immoderate vehicle's licence sheet and cheque it against a constricted database of Flock Safety audit logs.

Van Pelt, who has near tech and enrolled successful rule schoolhouse astatine the University of Iowa, said his extremity was to show group "not only really prevalent these systems are, but really often and really unrestricted their usage is."

How the tract works

The tract doesn't show whether a car was snapped by a Flock camera. Instead, it tin show whether a Flock customer — for illustration a constabulary agency aliases a backstage institution — has searched for a circumstantial licence sheet number.

The tract warns that its information is incomplete. It aggregates a patchwork of audit logs, including records published by agencies themselves and by others released successful consequence to nationalist records requests. The database now contains much than 242 cardinal recorded searches making love backmost to November 2021, according to the site.

Van Pelt said the tract is portion of a broader grassroots effort by group pushing backmost against Flock cameras successful their communities. Volunteers, peculiarly members of the DeFlock Discord community, thief record public-records requests, reply users' questions, and constituent group toward further resources.

The tract says it relies connected donations streaming done the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation, a nonprofit that supports independent watchdog journalism. Van Pelt said it takes astir $50 to $100 to tally the servers each month.

Flock Safety didn't respond to a petition for comment. Van Pelt told Business Insider that "Have I Been Flocked?" does not cod information from different automated licence plate-reading companies, specified arsenic Axon aliases Motorola Solutions, though he said he hoped different group are reasoning astir building akin websites for those companies.

A nationalist conversation

Flock Safety has go a nationalist lightning rod.

The Atlanta-based company, which was weighted astatine $8.4 cardinal successful April, is champion known for its automated licence sheet scholar technology, which combines cameras often perched atop intersections pinch precocious hunt features. The cameras seizure beingness descriptions of vehicles — including licence sheet numbers, make and model, overgarment color, and dents aliases scratches — and compile them into an AI-driven database.

Investigators opportunity the tech was instrumental successful search the conveyance of Claudio Neves-Valente, the man who was accused of sidesplitting 2 students astatine Brown University and a professor astatine MIT successful December 2025.

The readers person travel nether expanding scrutiny amid allegations of misuse and inaccuracies.

In early August, The Washington Post reported that astatine slightest 50 rule enforcement officers crossed the US had been accused of misusing licence sheet scanning tech to way unknowing drivers. Flock cameras were utilized successful 46 of those cases. In March, Business Insider reported connected aggregate circumstances successful which innocent drivers were pulled over, stopped astatine gunpoint, bitten by a constabulary dog, aliases jailed aft Flock's exertion misread licence plates.

Flock announced a bid of changes successful mid-August aimed astatine addressing concerns astir privateness and misuse, including shortening its recommended data-retention play for caller customers from a period to a week and introducing further devices designed to emblem perchance improper searches.

Those changes haven't satisfied each of Flock's critics. In a statement, the ACLU called Flock's caller changes a "thinly cloaked PR effort to antagonistic communities' genuine privateness concerns pinch its wide surveillance system."

Controversies person besides fueled a increasing web of citizen-run projects to show the technology, including DeFlock and FlockHopper.

"Have I Been Flocked?" has quickly emerged arsenic 1 cardinal instrumentality successful that surveil-the-surveillance-tech ecosystem.

Doug MacMillan, an investigative newsman who contributed to The Washington Post's August story, posted connected X that he's utilized "Have I Been Flocked?" information successful his reporting.

Van Pelt built the tract to make Flock's information visible

Van Pelt said he began independently reviewing Flock information successful precocious 2025, erstwhile the surveillance systems began entering the nationalist consciousness. Struck by the measurement of rule enforcement searches he saw, he built the website successful a "couple of weeks," he told Business Insider.

At the time, van Pelt was already looking to move retired of package engineering. "I benignant of did the mathematics there, and I figured tech isn't really contributing to nine arsenic overmuch arsenic it erstwhile utilized to," he said of his profession pivot to law.

Van Pelt said his concerns aren't constricted to Flock. He said he sees the institution arsenic 1 portion of a broader surveillance infrastructure that includes license-plate readers, drones, sound-detection systems, and exertion sold by different companies.

He said section governments and constabulary departments should supply much transparency astir what surveillance technologies they use, really those systems are interconnected, and why.

"Ending Flock is not the extremity game," van Pelt said. "It's really examining the wide surveillance infrastructure."

Do you person a individual communicative astir Flock Cameras? Share your acquisition successful the comments conception below.

If you person a communicative astir Flock, we want to perceive from you. Contact Ben Shimkus astatine [email protected] aliases Signal astatine bshimkus.41. Use a individual email reside and a non-work device.