What Are Agency Redactions?

Agency redactions occur when agencies remove or obscure information from audit logs before making them publicly available. This is different from the privacy redactions that we apply on this website.

While we redact sensitive personal information (like SSNs and addresses) from the reasons field, agencies nearly always choose to redact entire fields before publishing their transparency portal data or audit logs.

Types of Agency Redactions

1. Operator Names

Operator names are fully or partially redacted by default in Flock's network audit logs. We attempt to resolve names to individuals. Read More →

2. Search Reasons

When a search reason field is completely missing, this typically indicates the agency chose not to include this information in their public records. If the record was obtained through a transparency portal, it is the publishing agency applying the redaction. If it was obtained through a public records process, it was the releasing agency that redacted it.

3. Case Numbers and Search Metadata

Records from Flock's transparency portal typically lack key metadata, including user IDs, search timestamps, search types, device details, and crucial fields like reasons or case numbers. When these critical fields are unavailable for audit, we mark them as agency-redacted.

4. License Plate Numbers

License plate numbers are typically the most critical piece of information available. Without a plate, it becomes impossible to distinguish one "investigation" from another. Instances of stalking, long-term surveillance, and other abuse can be identified through the use of license plates.

Police do not publish plates through transparency portal logs and often redact them in external information releases.

Impact on Transparency

While redactions could serve legitimate purposes, they greatly limit public oversight of surveillance activities. Key information that becomes unavailable includes:

• The ability to identify patterns in individual officer behavior
• Understanding the stated justifications for searches
• Connecting searches to specific case investigations
• Assessing the scope and scale of surveillance activities

How We Handle Agency Redactions

When we detect that an agency has redacted information, we:

• Automatically identify common redaction patterns
• Mark affected fields with a redaction notice in search results and reports
• Distinguish agency redactions from our own privacy redactions
• Provide context about what information is missing

Our goal is to make it clear what information agencies have chosen to withhold, so **users and auditors** understand the limitations of the available data.

Questions or Concerns?

If you have questions about agency redactions or notice patterns in redacted data, please reach out through humans@haveibeenflocked.com. Understanding how agencies handle transparency is an important part of advocating for better oversight.