US Senator launches investigation into flock cameras amidst privacy concerns

Senator Josh Hawley has initiated an investigation into Flock Safety due to concerns that the company's network of traffic cameras may have been misused by law enforcement to unjustly monitor individuals.

Josh Hawley, who [1] is US Senator for Missouri, is seeking [clarification from Flock Safety regarding [2] the company's growing network of AI-driven cameras and whether it has contributed to the establishment of a searchable national database tracking the movements of Americans, as various communities nationwide discontinue the use of the technology due to increasing privacy issues. Hawley’s investigation is comes following allegations [3] that officers may have misused the cameras to stalk women, as well as concerns [4] that the technology has been linked to false arrests.

In [5] a letter addressed to Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley, Josh Hawley, the chair of the Judiciary subcommittee on crime and counterterrorism, stated that Congress never authorized the network your industry has built. “As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, I am investigating Flock Safety’s collection, retention, and dissemination of the data generated by its artificial intelligence surveillance cameras. In a few short years, Flock has assembled an unprecedented national surveillance network. Your company boasts more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states and more than 20 billion vehicle scans every month. The overwhelming majority of the Americans captured in those records did nothing wrong. Instead of serving discrete local investigations, as contemplated by our constitutional processes and safeguards, these camera networks harness artificial intelligence to pool what they capture into a national database that customers can search,” said Hawley.

On August 4, 2026 Josh Hawley convened a hearing to investigate the questionable practices associated [6] with AI surveillance pricing and the collection of consumer data by major corporations, which he argues could [7] be misleading for working Americans. “Hardly a day goes by in this town, without some booster of AI talking about how it’s going to transform the American economy for the better, the question is whose betterment will this transformation lead to? … We’re here today to talk about one of the effects of this AI boom: the partnership between the AI industry and some of the biggest corporations in America to effectively scam consumers out of every last dollar they have in order to buy products that they need and rely on … This is one of the biggest scams in American history. This marriage between the AI industry and these mega corporations, and they’re trying to pull it off against every American consumer. AI surveillance pricing is the unholy trinity of everything Americans hate: spying on people, ripping them off, and taking away jobs,” said Hawley to the Senate.

More [8] than 100 cities across the US are opting against Flock cameras due to escalating privacy and safety concerns regarding the company’s extensive network of automatic license plate readers. Flock, which provides a system comprising thousands of cameras capable of instant license plate recognition, has faced criticism for its wide-reaching network, which operates in every state except Alaska. While proponents argue that the cameras aid in apprehending criminals, detractors contend that the company’s practices resemble invasive surveillance and infringe on the Fourth Amendment. Additionally, there have been accounts of law enforcement officials misusing the system to track personal relationships.

A database [9] published by the non-profit Institute for Justice indicates that 105 local governments in the US have either canceled or failed to renew their automatic license plate recognition contracts since the start of 2025. Michael Soyfer, who [10] is an attorney with the Institute for Justice said, “Local governments have good reasons to want to stem the proliferation of these mass surveillance tools. Rather than narrowly target criminals, ALPRs collect troves of data on ordinary people’s movements and compile them in a database officers can freely access on demand. That has predictably led to widespread abuse, which will continue until we implement robust safeguards like a warrant requirement.”

Automated license plate readers were marketed to American communities as specialized devices aimed at combating car theft and aiding in the search for missing persons. However, [11] the implementation of these systems has evolved into a more extensive and concerning surveillance network. These AI-powered cameras capture and record the movements of all motorists, regardless of any criminal suspicion. Flock Safety and similar companies have deployed ALPRs across numerous communities, effectively creating large-scale surveillance frameworks capable of tracking individuals' locations and travel patterns, all without the requirement of a warrant.

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