PANOPTICON

Plates scanned since you opened this page

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Flock cameras in Pennsylvania · Penn State University Police

Penn State police can search a nationwide surveillance network. These are the records.

Every number above is a plate scanned somewhere in America. Some may have been yours.

Originally published

One search · Step 1 of 5 · The gate

One free-text field is the only thing between a user and the network.

If you have driven near campus, your plate, the time, and where you were may already be in this system. To search it, a user enters a reason. The case-number field can be left blank. In the released demonstration, "testing" worked.

SearchAlertsMapVMSDevicesSharingInsightsAdmin
Reason
Reason *

*Required Field

Case Number
Vehicle Details
License Plate
Plate State
Vehicle Fingerprint
Location & Time
Location
My Network(s) Selected
Start
End

Advanced Filters

Source: public-record video.

Source: Penn State Police network audit · November 26, 2025Flock Safety demo via MuckRock · 00:00-02:00

The audit record shows: 96,504 devices, 6,319 networks, and 49 states.

One search · Step 2 of 5 · The description

You don't need a plate. A color and a body shape is enough.

And then what? The reason is accepted, and the form asks what to look for. Not who, but what. In the released video the operator skips the plate field and types a description instead: a blue Toyota SUV. The panels below are reconstructed from that video.

SearchAlertsMapVMSDevicesSharingInsightsAdmin

Vehicle Fingerprint

Select from the categories below and toggle confidence thresholds to apply additional vehicle identifiers to your search.

Colors
Select vehicle colors

Adjust Confidence Levels: High, 75%

Makes
Select vehicle makes

Adjust Confidence Levels: High, 75%

Identifiers
Select vehicle identifiers

Adjust Confidence Levels: Custom

Higher confidence means closer potential matches to your original image, but potentially less results

Reset All
CancelApply
Source: Flock Safety demo via MuckRock · 01:49
SearchAlertsMapVMSDevicesSharingInsightsAdmin

Advanced Filters

Select from advanced filter options below to apply to your search.

Plate Confidence

High Confidence: 75%
License Plate (OCR)
High Confidence: 75%
State
Excluded Plates
Type a plate number to be excluded from results
Plate Type
All Plates

Note: Selecting ‘No Plate or Tag’ will yield results of vehicles without a plate present.

Adjust Confidence Levels: High, 75%

Images
Images With Plates

Note: Selecting ‘Images without Plates’ will yield results that do not contain vehicles.

Third Party Integrations
None (Flock Devices Only)
Reset All
CancelApply
Source: Flock Safety demo via MuckRock · 04:46

Such a loose description matches a lot of cars. In the video it matched 677 of them, with no plate entered and the confidence sliders left at their defaults.

One search · Step 3 of 5 · The reach

The search crossed state lines.

And then what? The form asks where to look. "My Networks" is the small circle: the cameras the agency owns. The selector beside it widens the same search to everyone who shares cameras: 6,319 networks, 96,504 devices, 49 states.

SearchAlertsMapVMSDevicesSharingInsightsAdmin

Map & Devices

MapDevicesDevice Groups
Location
My Network(s) Selected
Radius
2 mile(s)
✂ Draw
© OpenStreetMap contributors© CARTOCameras illustrative
Reset All
CancelApply
Source: Flock Safety demo via MuckRock · 02:32

Some of those cameras belong to police departments. Some belong to retail parking lots.2

One search · Step 4 of 5 · The return

Read in order, the result is a map of one person's life.

And then what? The network answers. Photos, timestamps, the camera's owner, its street address, sorted newest to oldest. This is what came back for the blue Toyota SUV, reconstructed from the released video.

SearchAlertsMapVMSDevicesSharingInsightsAdmin

Displaying 677 / 677 results

↑ Sort: Newest to Oldest

3/11/2025 10:30 AM - 3/12/2025 10:30 AMMy Network(s)SUV ×Blue ×Toyota ×Reset All Filters
3/12/202510:05:44 AM
Surveillance camera capture of a dark blue Toyota 4Runner, plate boxed by the system
[REDACTED]TXView More Details
Location F#016 - E McDowell Rd @ N 79th St EB
3/12/202510:05:32 AM
Surveillance camera capture of a blue Toyota RAV4 driving away, plate boxed by the system
[REDACTED]TXView More Details
Location North Lot - Outbound Camera

License Plate: [REDACTED]

Device OwnerFlock City PD - Law Enforcement
Device NameNorth Lot - Outbound Camera
Device TypeFalcon
Device Location33.4596..., -111.9092...
Nearest Address1030 Hayden Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85257
Device NetworkScottsdale AZ - Demo LPR Cam
SourceFlock Safety
Source: Flock Safety demo via MuckRock · 09:42

One vehicle search returns a 30-day movement history.

SearchAlertsMapVMSDevicesSharingInsightsAdmin
Date/Time CapturedActions
10:13:16 AM
10:13:13 AM
10:13:11 AM
10:13:10 AM
10:13:09 AM

Vehicle Details

Plate[REDACTED]
Plate StateTexas, Georgia, North Dakota, unknown, California, Virginia
Plate TypeRegular, Temporary Tag
BodyPickup, SUV, Sedan, Minivan, Work_Van, Coupe, Bus, undetected
MakeFord, Kia, Mazda, Tesla, Nissan, Toyota, RAM, Dodge, Honda, Jeep, …
ColorWhite, Black, Red, Blue, Silver/grey, Unknown, Brown, undetected

Vehicle sighting heatmap

© OpenStreetMap contributors© CARTOSightings illustrative

The basemap uses real geography; heat density and sighting positions are illustrative.

Source: Flock Safety demo via MuckRock · 08:12

The demonstration used the vendor's own plates. When the search finds a real person, the result looks like the file below: a Eugene, Oregon case released under Oregon public records law. Penn State's results are not public.

Investigative Summary

Flock SafetyInvestigative SummaryLicense Plate Detection
Organization nameEugene OR PD
Date createdMar 7 2025
Search reasonRobbery Investigation
License plateIdentity removed
Body/Make/ColorIdentity removed
Date/time capturedMar 7 2025
Device nameIdentity removed
Device typefalcon
Device locationIdentity removed
Nearest addressIdentity removed
Device networkLowes - #2940
Vehicle image permanently blurred
Name removed attests that the records produced are true and complete copies maintained in the ordinary course of business.
Source: Eugene OR Police investigative summary via MuckRock

The platform can return a full investigative file. This page can show Penn State-linked activity only where another agency's public records expose it.

One search · Step 5 of 5 · The receipt

When it's over, one audit row is all that remains.

And then what? The search ends. The photos, the map, the addresses: the person who was found never sees any of it. What persists is a receipt: one audit row. The reconstructed dataset contains 130 such receipts: Penn State-linked searches visible through audits published outside Pennsylvania, with the redaction metadata for each field.

Derived audit table

12 rows at a time. Filter by month or reverse the chronology.

Showing 1–12 of 77 matching rows (77 total).

TimestampSource agencyReasonCase #
Nov 14, 2025, 06:51 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 14, 2025, 07:52 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 14, 2025, 08:17 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 14, 2025, 08:33 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 14, 2025, 09:18 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 16, 2025, 08:26 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 16, 2025, 09:36 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 19, 2025, 04:09 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDStalking investigationValue removed
Nov 26, 2025, 10:10 AM UTCParkland Community College ILValue removed—
Nov 26, 2025, 10:10 AM UTCDunwoody GA PDValue removed—
Nov 26, 2025, 10:10 AM UTCTonawanda NYtesting—
Nov 26, 2025, 10:10 AM UTCHuffman ISD TX PDtesting—

Black bars reflect redaction metadata in the source records.

Some searches appear more than once because they were logged by more than one agency's audit. The 77 rows are audit entries, not necessarily 77unique searches.

Source: Penn State-linked dataset · 77 records · Nov. 2025-spring 2026

One search · Step 5, continued · The receipt is going dark

Read chronologically, the record becomes less readable.

November still shows free-text reasons like "testing". In December 2025 Flock announced that the free-text reason field would become a mandatory offense-type dropdown.3 January shifts to coded categories: 100% of that month's rows. By April and May, every row arrives with something redacted.

Compare the audit record

Choose a period.

November 2025

6 representative rows

November 2025 audit-record sample
TimestampSource agencyReasonCase #
Nov 14, 06:51 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 14, 07:52 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 14, 08:17 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 14, 08:33 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 14, 09:18 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Nov 16, 08:26 PM UTCNew Castle PA PDtestValue removed
Source: Penn State-linked dataset · 77 records · Nov. 2025-spring 2026

Routine operations

The searches do not read like a limited pilot.

The reconstructed records include larceny, hit-and-run, robbery, and welfare-check searches. Month after month, the categories read like routine police work.

The ending

A Pennsylvania university's searches are visible only through other agencies' audits.

The rows on this page were published by departments in Ohio, Arkansas, and elsewhere in Pennsylvania that Penn State is not required to match.

Every exhibit on this page is a public record obtained from agencies that are required to answer. Penn State is not one of them.

The closest public look inside Penn State's own police systems is a criminal complaint. In May 2026, university police charged a former student auxiliary officer with computer trespass, alleging that he used dispatch-office computers to enter protected databases of vehicle registrations, criminal histories, and personal identifying information.2

So the record you can see is only the part that leaked in from elsewhere. The searches that name the people around you stay in the dark.

Source: Penn State-linked dataset · 130 records · 46 source files StateCollege.com · May 15, 2026