Posted on 08/05/2026 11:43:18 PM PDT by Morgana
The Sheriff’s office says the search was triggered to perform a wellness check for a missing person.
In May 2025, a deputy with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office in Texas ran a query through Flock Safety’s Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) system to look for a woman suspected of having a self-managed abortion, which is illegal in Texas.
According to the documents obtained by 404 Media, the search log included phrases “had an abortion, search for female.”
The query provided the officer with access to a network of 83,000 cameras used by 6,809 law enforcement networks, including states where abortions are legal and protected. No warrant was issued for the search.
The AI-powered Flock ALPR system captures every car that comes into its cameras’ view, recording license plate, timestamp, location, and direction of travel. The data is stored in a central cloud.
The system then matches the data with a searchable database used by law enforcement agencies and issues an alert.
Within the Flock network, queries are justified by filling free-text fields, and “investigation” is usually named as the reason for the search.
Following 404 Media’s story, Johnson County Sheriff Adam King and Flock Safety said the system was used to conduct a “welfare check” for a missing person, as her family worried about her safety.
The company called the report “false” and “clickbait.”
Pro-choice activists, however, aren’t convinced by these explanations.
Kate Bertash of the Digital Defense Fund, a pro-abortion technology and advocacy organization, told 404 Media that anti-abortion groups have a track record of secretly recording license plates at clinics.
She said that the ALPR system, which allows tracking of vehicles “over time and across state lines,” limits protection even for those who live in safe states.
After the Supreme Court overturned federal constitutional protection of abortion in 2022, 13 states, including Texas, have imposed a total abortion ban, according to Guttmacher Institute’s tracker.
Pregnancy termination is allowed only to save a mother’s life, yet in reality, women report being denied care even in the case of medical emergencies, as physicians fear being wrongfully accused of facilitating abortions. Fears over mass surveillance
Rights advocates accuse the Flock ALPR system of enabling mass surveillance and facilitating warrantless searches.
The company’s CEO, Garrett Langley, recently dismissed the criticism, saying the system doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment.
He told The Drive, “So far, in our belief and what will be for a long time, the courts have deemed this is not a warrantless search; this is a valid product as it relates to the Fourth Amendment. So I don’t see any change there.”
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I read the whole thing and I have no idea how flock cameras can identify/locate a woman who had a “self-managed abortion.”
Surveillance cameras mounted to read auto license plates and compile a database of where the cars have been. Typically at intersections, but could be anywhere. Highly invasive of privacy, IMO.
Flock is a company that produces the cameras and supporting infrastructure and programs. "Flock camera" is becoming a generic term like "Kleenex" or "Scotch tape" to include other makers of the cameras.
I don't think the camera had anything directly to do with her suspected self-abortion. I think that suspicion came from other info. However, the cameras may have noticed her license plate at a women's clinic, supporting the suspicion. After that, locating her is just accessing the camera database.
All sounds pretty Stasi to me.
The word flock is the name of the company that owns the cameras. When you are driving look around at intersections for cameras. They are recording vehicles passing by, pedestrians all movement in every city everywhere, to keep us safe. The Flock company creates a searchable database.
Okay so why would a gas station ⛽ and truck stop have this type of cameras when they all have CCTV already?
if you don’t take the abortion pills correctly you can bleed to death or become septic. Very sick or even die.
Were they doing a welfare check on the mother?
Also if the abortion pills are taken after the baby can survive outside the womb, they might be investigating infanticide.
Early abortion looks like a spontaneous miscarriage or like a very heavy late period. So no evidence for the cops here.
Because the info goes into one large file instead of individual cctv files on site.
I am not liking this system.
I think local authorities are encouraging the use of same for the data base that comes with. Facial recognition software, searchable for law enforcement use.
I don’t care what schlock they spin. A big NO to FLOCK cameras! They are not “for your safety”.
Thing is, a licensed abortionist can do their killings but if you’re not, well then ....
The thought of cameras tracking individuals is not pleasant. I do have some issues with the objections to them.
The Supreme Court has already ruled that you have little right to privacy in public. It would be perfectly legal for you to stand on a corner and take a picture of every car that passes. Why? Well, because the alternative is worse.
Imagine not being able to take photographs in public. There are already places where photography is restricted- rest rooms, locker rooms, places important to national security. Privately owned property and businesses can have such restrictions, but imagine such restrictions EVERYWHERE.
I have heard the argument that it isn’t the pictures, but what they do with them that is the problem. Do we want the government controlling what we can do with photo? You can take them, but don’t enlarge them! Don’t enhance them! Don’t store them!
I don’t want big brother looking over my shoulder, but let’s be very careful that the cure isn’t worse than the problem.
Need more data centers.
Because it is ...
The Secret State Police and the Committee for State Security longed for such capabilities.
We need to control what GOVERNMENT does with photographs, video recordings, audio recordings, and the analysis and fusion of those data.
In a free society, We the People limit what government is permitted to do.
Do you want a free society?
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