<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/senate/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Senators</a> from both parties expressed concerns on September 23, 2026, regarding AI-powered automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) that can track individuals' movements, citing potential privacy rights infringements as communities nationwide voice opposition to the technology.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Sen. <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/josh-hawley/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Josh Hawley</a> (R-MO), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, had invited the CEOs of <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/flock-cameras/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Flock</a> Safety, Axon Enterprise, Motorola Solutions, and Verkada to testify about their ALPRs and the extensive database of images they generate, but all four declined the invitation to the hearing.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Following the hearing, which included testimonies from legal and technological experts, law enforcement, and a woman wrongfully jailed due to ALPRs, Hawley expressed hope that the discussions would lead to a change in how companies address growing concerns.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I hope that today will be a turning point,” Hawley stated in an interview with the <em>Washington Examiner</em>. “I’m sure that they’ll say, ‘Oh well, this was wrong or that’s wrong.’ OK, well, come and testify and tell us about it.”</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-senators-focus-on-privacy-rights-concerns">Senators Focus on Privacy Rights Concerns</h2>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Flock operates over 120,000 cameras across 49 states, generating approximately 20 billion vehicle scans each month. Hawley highlighted that the cameras capture images of all vehicles passing by, regardless of their involvement in any crime, effectively creating a “digital fingerprint” of each vehicle.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“If you haven’t heard of Flock, all I have to say is Flock’s probably heard of you,” Hawley remarked during his opening statement.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The hearing focused on whether these interconnected networks enable authorities to reconstruct individuals' movements without the necessary legal and cybersecurity safeguards typically required for government surveillance.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hawley noted that these networks could potentially track a person's movements over days or weeks, revealing visits to schools, churches, and medical appointments. He pointed out that newer systems can catalog details such as a vehicle’s make, model, color, and location, allowing authorities to search information across a broader network.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This distinction contributed to the bipartisan concern expressed during the hearing.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/technology/4739803/flock-new-guardrails-senate-scrutinizes-surveillance-policies-privacy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Flock Introduces New Guardrails as Senate Scrutinizes Surveillance Policies</a></strong></p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Ranking member <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/dick-durbin/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dick Durbin</a> (D-IL) emphasized the issue of collecting information about individuals not suspected of crimes.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“The bottom line is they collect the information before there’s any specific allegation that wrongdoing has taken place,” Durbin stated.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) argued that Congress can balance providing police with useful technology while protecting the public from warrantless surveillance.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I think two things can be true at the same time,” Britt said. “One, we want to keep and make sure that our law enforcement officers have what they need to keep Americans safe to help make sure that children who have been abducted get home. But we must protect people’s Fourth Amendment rights.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) described the situation with Flock cameras and similar technologies as being “out of balance,” noting that while people desire protection from law enforcement, they are unwilling to sacrifice their rights.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“To me we have gone way out of balance now,” Booker said. “When it comes to certain societal interests in public safety, concerns there with violating the average American’s sense of fundamental rights to privacy. … We are way out of balance right now. In fact, we are out of control for any government, state, local, or federal, to easily abuse the fundamental rights that we all assume we have a right to.”</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-witnesses-describe-security-and-investigative-failures">Witnesses Describe Security and Investigative Failures</h2>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">These broader concerns were highlighted by Lindsey Isaacs, a Florida woman who testified that she spent 13 days in jail after investigators relied partially on a Flock camera while investigating a fatal crash.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The camera captured Isaacs’ vehicle several miles from the crash scene. Investigators were searching for a similar make and model, but witnesses had described a different colored car and provided a partial license plate that did not match hers.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I came here today because I want you to understand that surveillance technology does not exist in a vacuum,” she said. “Information collected by technology can become part of an investigation that affects a real human being.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Pinal County, Arizona, Sheriff Ross Teeple presented a different perspective, stating his department uses license plate readers and finds them valuable but canceled its contract with Flock due to concerns about the network's scope and the company's responses regarding its technology.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“If we rely on private camera networks to act as a dragnet, continuously logging the habits of innocent Americans without a warrant, we are paving the way to an AI-driven surveillance state,” Teeple said.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Alasdair Whitney, legislative counsel at the Institute for Justice, informed senators that the technology provides authorities with unprecedented access to individuals' movements and allows data-sharing that extends beyond county lines.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“ALPR technology now lets the government do something it can never do before, and that is travel back in time and reconstruct your movements, where you’ve been, and with whom we’ve associated, all without a warrant, and with the ease of running a Google search,” Whitney stated.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Cybersecurity researcher Benn Jordan raised concerns about the security of the vast amount of information being collected, noting vulnerabilities in Flock systems, including Flock law enforcement accounts for sale on the dark web, and his ability to hack into the systems.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“What I’ve been asking for around the country is for privatized government surveillance vendors to require independent security testing and inspections,” Jordan said. “I cannot legally open a restaurant or a barbershop without a health inspector and a fire marshal making sure that it’s safe for people to enter. Yet there is not a single city or police department in this country that requires this from a third-party company tracking their citizens.”</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-congress-could-do-next">What Congress Could Do Next</h2>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Witnesses proposed several potential federal regulations, including requiring warrants to search historical location information, limiting data retention periods, and imposing stricter rules on who can access ALPR databases and for what purposes.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Teeple expressed that he does not believe the technology should be eliminated entirely but advocated for clearer distinctions between law enforcement uses and systems that continuously record movements of individuals not suspected of crimes.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“We must establish clear statutory boundaries for automatic license plate readers. We cannot wait for a future Supreme Court ruling to correct AI overreach. We must protect the Fourth Amendment today,” Teeple stated.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">President Donald Trump endorsed the use of Flock cameras earlier this month, stating he “likes them” and noting their utility in law enforcement for apprehending criminals. However, he acknowledged that the cameras are unpopular due to concerns about privacy infringement.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When asked about Trump’s opinion on Flock, Hawley indicated an understanding of the potential value of such tools for law enforcement.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I think what the president has said is that he wants law enforcement to have tools, and that license plate readers are valuable and traditional law enforcement tools, and they are,” Hawley told the <em>Washington Examiner</em>. “I mean, we use those in Missouri all the time. But I think you know today was an effort at trying to gather the facts, and you know what we heard today is that this technology is very different.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hawley clarified after the hearing that he sees potential legitimate uses for the technology but believes those uses should be limited.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/4731324/northern-virginia-rethinks-contracts-flock-cameras-community-outrage/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Northern Virginia Cities Take a Step Back from Flock Cameras After Community Outrage</a></strong></p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“There may be great uses for it, but it’s got to be constrained for like legitimate law enforcement purposes, and it needs to be limited in a way that reflects the constitutionality,” he said after the hearing.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The four companies may still face further scrutiny. Hawley mentioned that issuing subpoenas for testimony would require a vote from the full Senate Judiciary Committee and that he plans to discuss the matter with Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA).</p>