If it’s a police department, possibly, and not always legally. Departments across the country use a license plate camera network called Flock, and news is breaking regularly right now about officers getting arrested for searching it to track ex-partners and people they have no legitimate reason to be watching. If it’s a private individual, not a police officer, they can’t access Flock at all. What they can do is physically hide a GPS tracker on your vehicle, which is a real and separate threat, and one a licensed investigator can actually find.
What Is Flock and Why Is It in the News?
Flock is a network of small, solar-powered cameras mounted along roads that photograph every passing vehicle and log the plate, location, date, and time into a searchable database. More than 120,000 of these cameras feed roughly 7,000 police departments nationwide, including agencies here in Colorado. A Kentucky officer was recently arrested after authorities said he searched his ex-girlfriend’s plate over 2,000 times using the system, tracking her across two states, even after she got a protection order against him. He’s one of nearly 70 documented cases of officers nationwide facing allegations, charges, or arrests for misusing Flock since 2021, and about 55 of those happened in just the last year.
Can I Find Out If a Police Department Has Searched My Plate?
Yes. An independent, non-profit-backed tool at haveibeenflocked.com lets you enter your own plate and see every logged search against it, including which agency ran it and when. If you see searches from an agency with no reason to be looking at you, especially anywhere near an active protective order or custody situation, that’s worth documenting and raising with an attorney.
What If It’s Not the Police? Can Someone Else Track My Car?
Yes, but not through Flock. Private individuals, including an ex-partner or someone else with a personal grudge, don’t have access to that system. What they can do instead is physically attach a small GPS tracker to your vehicle, hidden under a bumper, in a wheel well, or inside the frame. This is illegal under Colorado stalking law when it’s used to monitor someone without consent, and it’s exactly the kind of device a real investigator, not a phone app, is equipped to find.
How EVCO Investigates a Suspected Tracking or Stalking Situation
If a phone app or a quick self-check isn’t enough, our team runs a full vehicle sweep with professional-grade equipment and a physical inspection of every place a tracker could realistically be hidden.
If you genuinely believe someone, whether a private individual or someone with law enforcement access, is tracking your movements without a legitimate reason, don’t wait to find out for certain on your own. Call EVCO Investigations at (970) 658-3725 to talk to a licensed private investigator about your situation.