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Surveillance & LPR glossary
Plain-language definitions for the terms you'll see when reading about Flock Safety, license plate readers, and the open-records work that keeps them accountable.
Technology
- License Plate Reader (LPR / ALPR)A camera system that automatically photographs vehicle license plates and converts them to searchable text, location, and timestamp records.
- CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television)Traditional video surveillance cameras — distinct from LPRs because they record continuous video rather than structured plate metadata.
- Gunshot detectionAcoustic sensor networks that triangulate gunshots and dispatch police — frequently bundled with LPR camera deployments.
- How Flock camera maps are builtA public map showing where Flock Safety license plate readers are installed — how these maps are built, what they can and cannot tell you, and how to read ours.
- How Flock cameras workA plain-language explanation of what a Flock camera is, what it captures, who can search the data, and how long records are kept.
Vendors
Policy
- Public records requests for surveillance dataHow to use state open-records laws to compel disclosure of LPR contracts, retention policies, hot lists, and audit logs.
- Hot listA list of license plates flagged for automatic alerts when seen by an LPR — used for stolen vehicles, AMBER Alerts, and active investigations.
- Data retentionHow long captured plate reads are stored — the single most important policy lever for LPR oversight.
- DeFlock and community mappingThe volunteer movement that maps ALPR camera locations into OpenStreetMap so residents can see surveillance infrastructure in their own neighborhoods.
Rights
- Opting out of LPR surveillancePractical and legal options for reducing your exposure to license plate readers — and the limits of what "opting out" actually means.
- ALPR cameras, the law, and what camera pages showWhat automatic license plate readers are, why they are legal in the United States, and how to read a Find Flock Oklahoma camera page.