Search Types

Understanding the different search tools available in Flock's platform and their implications for audit trails.

Search Tool

The primary investigation interface where users apply multiple filters to find vehicles across selected camera networks.

Key Features:

  • Filter by vehicle characteristics (color, make, body type, plates)
  • Select specific cameras or camera groups
  • Search across custom time ranges
  • Find vehicles with or without plates
  • Features like Visual Search and Convoy Search

Audit Trail Implication

Search queries pull from cameras the organization has direct access to through network sharing agreements. These represent searches within the authorized camera networks.

Lookup Tool

Provides broader geographic reach through participation in statewide or national data sharing networks.

Key Features:

  • Shows where a specific plate has been seen over the past 1, 7, 14, or 30 days
  • Requires administrators to opt into "Statewide Lookup" or "National Lookup"
  • Has a "My Cameras" tab indicating participation in broader networks

Audit Trail Implication

With Lookup, an operator may see where vehicles have been across Flock's cameras, but may not see the actual images unless those specific cameras are directly shared with their organization. Lookup queries use the broader state- or nationwide network for tracking vehicle movements across jurisdictions.

Visual Search

A reverse image search capability that uses machine learning to find visually similar vehicles when plate information isn't available or visible.

Key Features:

  • Upload or select an image of a vehicle from photos or surveillance footage
  • Analyzes visual characteristics like body style, color patterns, and distinctive features
  • Identifies vehicles across the camera network based on visual similarity

Audit Trail Implication

Visual Search represents advanced machine learning-based surveillance that doesn't require traditional identifiers like license plates. This capability allows tracking based purely on visual appearance.

Convoy Search

An association analysis tool that identifies vehicles frequently traveling alongside a target vehicle by analyzing co-occurrence patterns across time and locations.

Key Features:

  • Takes a license plate and returns plates that often appear near it
  • Identifies pattern-of-life associations between different vehicles
  • Reveals regular travel companions or potential accomplice vehicles
  • Maps vehicular relationships through time and location correlation

Audit Trail Implication

Convoy Search extends surveillance beyond individual vehicles to map networks of association based on proximity patterns. This allows Flock users to identify and track individuals not directly under investigation but whose vehicles happen to travel similar routes. The tool creates associations that may be coincidental rather than meaningful, potentially subjecting innocent parties to scrutiny based on travel patterns alone.

Search Summary

This type showed up only twice in a single log file from January 2026. It is unclear at this time what it represents.

Key Features:

  • Unknown

Audit Trail Implication

Unknown