Systems, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to using vehicles as mobile observation platforms. In one embodiment, a method includes, in response to receiving, in a selected vehicle that is equipped with at least one camera, a request for locating a target, identifying search parameters from the request that specify the target that is to be identified and a time window for analyzing visual data from the camera. The method includes analyzing the visual data according to the search parameters to identify the target by using at least a machine vision model executing on a processor within the selected vehicle. The visual data includes at least camera data that is currently being acquired. The method includes communicating detection results about whether the visual data includes the target to a remote device from which the request originated.