Report and track Flock camera locations — a community driven resource
If you spotted a small rectangular camera mounted on a utility pole or street sign in San Francisco, it's almost certainly a Flock Safety ALPR license plate reader — not a traffic camera, not a security camera. Here's how to confirm it.
Six visual features that distinguish Flock Safety ALPR cameras from traffic cameras, security cameras, and other pole-mounted devices. San Francisco, California.
Three hardware variants are deployed across the US. San Francisco, California.
459 Flock Safety ALPR cameras have been reported in San Francisco, California by community members. 459 have been independently verified.
California has some of the most active ALPR policy debates in the country. While there is no single statewide retention cap for ALPR data, many agencies operate under local ordinances or department policies limiting retention to 60–180 days. The California Values Act and various city-level surveillance ordinances add additional layers of oversight.
Statute: Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.90.5 et seq.
It's almost certainly a Flock Safety ALPR (Automatic License Plate Reader). These devices photograph every passing vehicle's license plate, timestamp, and direction of travel. 459 have been documented in San Francisco by community members on this map.
Traffic cameras are typically larger, mounted at intersections on signal arms, and face the road horizontally. Flock Safety cameras are smaller (roughly 8×5 inches), mounted on utility poles or fence posts at 8–12 ft, and often have a visible IR LED ring and a small solar panel. They are not connected to traffic signals.
Cameras can be operated by local police departments, HOAs, private businesses, or neighborhood associations. Flock Safety sells directly to all of these groups. The operator is not always disclosed publicly, which is why community mapping efforts like this one exist.