This free tool shows whether police near you use Flock cameras

Flock cameras are a hot topic right now. They’re automated license plate readers with concerning privacy implications, and you probably drive past more of them than you realize. If you’re curious about what your local police department is using, the Atlas of Surveillance gives you a simple way to find out.

Created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the University of Nevada, Reno’s Reynolds School of Journalism, the site collects public information about surveillance tech used by law enforcement across the US. Its database covers thousands of agencies and surveillance deployments.

One of its most useful bits of information is its coverage of Flock Safety cameras. These automated license plate readers photograph passing vehicles and record plate information that police can use in investigations. Flock cameras have also become a flashpoint for privacy advocates, with critics raising concerns about police misuse, widespread sharing of license-plate data between agencies, and their potential use in immigration enforcement and other sensitive investigations.

To see if Flock cameras are used near you, enter your city, county, state, or local police agency into the Atlas search box. You can then filter the results to “Automated License Plate Readers” or sort by “Flock Safety” as the vendor.

You can click on each individual result to get more information. Each entry can tell you which agency uses the cameras, when they were adopted, and sometimes how many are in service. Each entry also links back to sources such as government records and news reports, so you can dig deeper.

It’s important to know, though, that Atlas tracks deployments by police agencies, not necessarily the exact location of every camera pole. Still, it’s an easy way to get a better idea of how much surveillance tech is being used in your area.

For more fun and helpful website and app recommendations, be sure to subscribe to our PCWorld Try This newsletter.