RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, sent a letter to the CEO of Flock Safety on Wednesday announcing an investigation into the "unprecedented national surveillance network" that the company has built with over 120,000 cameras in 49 states. The company captures license plate information that it feeds to law enforcement agencies around the country, and some cameras even track individual people just walking along the street.
Hawley seems particularly concerned about the use of AI to sift through the massive amounts of data and draw connections used by cops. He also notes the many reports of misuse by police officers who have been found tracking their ex-wives, ex-girlfriends, and other family members or acquaintances.
"The overwhelming majority of the Americans captured in those records did nothing wrong," reads the lette r, which was first obtained by Axios . "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."
The letter, addressed to CEO Garret Langley, notes just a handful of the countless abuses that have been reported in the media, including a cop in Milwaukee who allegedly searched his girlfriend's license plate number 124 times as well as her old boyfriend's license plate 55 times. A Kentucky police officer was recently arrested for searching his ex-girlfriend's information over 2,000 times . The letter also notes that innocent people have been caught up in this system.
Hawley's letter includes all the caveats that you'd expect from a law-and-order Republican. But he writes the U.S. Supreme Court has found that a comprehensive record of someone's movements is different from being observed normally in public, which is not considered a violation of one's constitutional rights. And he also points out that, "Congress never authorized the network your industry has built."
The letter includes several questions that Flock is called upon to answer, including the total number of "confirmed instances of misuse" of the system as well as what kind of data security practices are in place. The letter also requests a number of different internal documents, including things like data retention policies and technical documentation.
"In light of this abuse of driver information, the American people want to know who has access to their personal data and how. This investigation will seek those answers. To facilitate that, please produce all documents and information specified in the attached annex no later than September 8, 2026," reads Hawley's letter.
There's been tremendous popular backlash against Flock in recent months, including one viral stunt from a man dressed as Darth Vader in San Diego last week . And the groundswell seems to be bipartisan at this point. Tucker Carlson, the extremist right-wing commentator who now has one of the biggest podcasts in the U.S., mocked Flock's CEO on a recent show.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has been a steadfast ally of President Donald Trump and his brand of far-right ideology. But even DeSantis thinks that Flock Safety cameras and the mass surveillance state are getting out of hand. DeSantis said he supports police use of advanced surveillance tools but called Flock's activities "out of control," during a press conference Wednesday .
There have been a number of reports of Flock cameras being vandalized and cut down nationwide, though that's the kind of thing that can bring charges against people who are caught. A man in Riverside County, California, was arrested this week for allegedly vandalizing a Flock camera and assaulting a contractor who was working to repair the camera, which had been previously vandalized, according to CBS News . Cops are even putting out bait cameras now. A Florida man was caught recently destroying a decoy camera made using a 3D printer.
Flock didn't immediately respond to questions about Hawley's investigation on Wednesday. But a spokesperson told Politico, “We will be responding directly to the questions raised and we look forward to working with Senator Hawley and the Subcommittee to provide additional context about how our technology works, the safeguards built into our platform, and how law enforcement agencies use Flock to solve crime and find missing people."
Gizmodo will update this article if we hear back from Flock directly.
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