Flock cameras record where and when a license plate is spotted. Police can search those records during investigations, but the rules and records governing those searches vary among departments, according to responses to public records requests filed with agencies around the state.

Oklahoma City police directed requesters to information on the department’s website but did not provide requested audit logs or search records. Moore police provided a heavily redacted contract with Flock, while Edmond police supplied its agreement, training information and equipment receipts. Neither Moore nor Edmond provided audit logs. Norman police said it had no Flock contract or related records.

Jenks police provided audit logs, search totals and information about networks that share data.

The records questions have gained urgency after two incidents involving Oklahoma City police. In one case, the department said it took corrective action following a complaint about an officer’s use of the system. In a separate internal investigation, police found that Sgt. Keenan Heskett used the database for personal reasons from December 2024 through April 2025. The department said Heskett received a three-day unpaid suspension, a Class Three reprimand and a year of disciplinary probation.

Oklahoma City police said it had released all records required under the Oklahoma Open Records Act and declined a request for an on-camera interview about its use of Flock.

Leslie Briggs, a legal initiative attorney with the Reporters Committee, said the state’s open-records law does not specifically require agencies to release Flock audit logs. Such records might be disclosed in the public interest, she said, but that could depend on an agency choosing to release them or a court ordering their release.

The lack of consistent standards is part of a broader uncertainty around automated license plate readers, said Kimberly Przeszlowski, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Quinnipiac University. The technology is not standardized, she said, and important questions about its use remain unanswered.

Briggs described the cameras as a powerful form of government surveillance and warned that limited public visibility into how police use them could undermine trust. Independent audits and public access to records, she said, can help show whether the systems are being used reasonably.

Without Oklahoma City’s requested audit logs, the full history of searches in the city’s Flock system cannot be independently examined.