Senate Panel to Probe Flock Safety’s AI License Plate Cameras

A Senate Judiciary Committee panel will scrutinize Flock Safety’s extensive network of AI‑powered license‑plate cameras on Wednesday, amid mounting concerns about privacy and the potential for misuse. The company, which operates more than 120,000 cameras across the United States, collects and stores license‑plate data that could be accessed by law‑enforcement agencies and private entities. Critics argue that the scale of the system raises significant questions about data security, retention policies, and the possibility of the technology being used for surveillance beyond its stated purpose.

Senator Josh Hawley, Republican chair of the Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, opened an investigation into Flock Safety earlier this year. Hawley’s inquiry focuses on how the company aggregates, stores, and shares the data it captures, as well as the safeguards in place to prevent unauthorized access. The committee will hear testimony from Flock Safety executives, privacy advocates, and law‑enforcement officials, and will review the company’s compliance with existing federal privacy statutes and state‑level regulations.

The hearing is expected to shed light on whether Flock Safety’s operations comply with privacy laws and whether additional oversight is warranted. Depending on the findings, lawmakers could push for tighter regulatory standards or new legislation to govern the use of license‑plate recognition technology nationwide.