President Donald Trump voiced support for Flock Safety cameras as the expanding license plate surveillance network faces scrutiny from lawmakers in both parties over privacy, warrantless data access and alleged misuse.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he supports Flock Safety cameras for their law enforcement applications, placing himself on the side of the increasingly scrutinized technology even as Republican and independent lawmakers raise concerns about privacy and the collection of Americans’ vehicle data.
“I like them [Flock Safety cameras],” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to Joint Base Andrews.
A reporter raised the issue by pointing to support for the technology among police agencies.
“You haven’t talked a lot about the Flock cameras. A lot of law enforcement say they really help them,” the reporter said before asking Trump, “Would you be willing to back that?”
“Yeah, I sort of like them because of that, because of law enforcement,” Trump responded. “But some people don’t; they think it’s an infringement.”
“They help catch a lot of criminals,” the reporter said.
“I like them,” Trump replied.
The president’s comments come as Flock Safety’s artificial intelligence-powered Automated License Plate Reader network faces mounting scrutiny over its collection and use of vehicle information. Critics have questioned law enforcement access to data without warrants and the potential for information gathered through the system to be misused.
Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley opened an investigation Aug. 26 into Flock Safety and the data collected by its network of more than 120,000 cameras. Hawley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, cited incidents involving alleged misuse of the technology as part of the inquiry.
“In Missouri, the St. Charles County Police Department terminated its contract this month after an audit revealed that a civilian employee had run Flock searches for personal reasons, completely unrelated to their law enforcement duties,” Hawley wrote in his letter launching the investigation.
Hawley also pointed to an allegation involving a Milwaukee police officer and repeated searches of license plate information.
“In Milwaukee, prosecutors charged a police officer who allegedly searched his girlfriend’s license plate 124 times and her former boyfriend’s plate 55 times, entering ‘investigation’ as his justification each time. Worse still, the officer was not caught by the company’s audit systems — he was caught because a private citizen looked up his own plate on a public website,” Hawley wrote.
Opposition to the technology has also emerged from the other side of the political spectrum. Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, announced Aug. 26 that he “will soon be introducing legislation [to stop Flock and AI mass surveillance].”
“Totalitarianism is when a government or another entity with overwhelming power seeks to know, control and influence everything you do, say and even think,” Sanders wrote. “I fear very much that if we don’t act aggressively, that is where we’re heading.”
The widening political debate has unfolded alongside resistance to Flock cameras in several communities.
Police in Winona, Minnesota, reported Aug. 4 that eight of the city’s Flock cameras had been destroyed. Similar incidents involving Flock equipment were also reported in Ohio, Texas and North Carolina.
Trump’s endorsement now adds the president directly to a national dispute over how automated license plate technology should be balanced against privacy protections, with law enforcement supporters emphasizing its usefulness in criminal investigations while critics in both parties continue pressing questions about data access, oversight and the possibility of abuse.
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