<p>Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Wednesday sent a letter to Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley, expressing concerns about the company’s national surveillance network. Hawley’s letter follows growing national criticism of Flock's automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), which utilize artificial intelligence to assist police in tracking stolen vehicles and those involved in crimes.</p>
<p>Flock currently operates over 120,000 cameras across 49 states and has agreements with numerous municipalities. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, Hawley announced an investigation into Flock’s practices regarding the collection, retention, and dissemination of data generated by its cameras.</p>
<p>“The overwhelming majority of the Americans captured in those records did nothing wrong,” Hawley stated in the letter. He expressed concern that the camera networks aggregate data into a national database accessible to customers, which may not align with constitutional safeguards.</p>
<p>Hawley highlighted instances of misuse, including a case involving a St. Charles County Police Department employee who conducted personal searches and a Milwaukee police officer who searched his partner’s license plate over 100 times. He also noted cases where individuals were wrongfully arrested due to inaccurate connections made by the cameras.</p>
<p>Flock’s ALPRs capture images of all vehicles passing by, not just those under investigation. In response to the backlash, Langley announced changes to the company’s policies, including reducing the data retention period to seven days and requiring searches to be linked to a case number.</p>
<p>Hawley raised concerns about the handling of data after collection, emphasizing the need for transparency regarding how Flock and its customers manage driver data. He noted that Flock has claimed it does not sell data, with ownership resting with the police departments that contract with the company. Flock spokesman Paris Lewbel stated that the company is prepared to respond to Hawley’s inquiries and provide further context about its technology and safeguards.</p>
<p>At the conclusion of his letter, Hawley reiterated the importance of balancing law enforcement capabilities with the protection of individual privacy rights. He stated, “Congress never authorized the network your industry has built. Your company’s internal policies are, in practice, the only safeguards for hundreds of millions of Americans.” Hawley requested a response from Flock by September 8, including documentation on data retention, camera accuracy, and access to collected data.</p>