Texas officer used nationwide Flock network to track a woman suspected of self-managed abortion
A Texas sheriff's office searched a nationwide network of tens of thousands of license plate readers — including thousands of Flock camera networks across multiple states — to track a single woman suspected of self-managing an abortion, as far as Illinois and Washington.
Reporting in 2025 revealed that a local sheriff’s office in Texas used a nationwide network of roughly 83,000 automated license plate readers and thousands of Flock camera networks across multiple states to track one woman suspected of self-managing an abortion — with an officer attempting to follow her movements as far as Illinois and Washington.
The case became a defining example of how a system marketed for local “public safety” can be turned into a tool for tracking individuals across state lines for conduct that is legal where they live.