Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida introduced legislation to bar the federal government from purchasing, operating, or accessing Flock Safety automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras without a judicial warrant. The bill, called the Facilitating Liberty and Accountability for Flock Observations (FLAFO) Act, would also tie Department of Justice grants for local law enforcement to adoption of similar privacy safeguards. Steube said the Fourth Amendment requires warrants before Americans can be tracked while driving, and criticized Flock Safety's network as too expansive and prone to abuse.
ALPR systems, originally designed for limited vehicle identification, have expanded into broader AI-powered surveillance, drawing scrutiny over misuse, including the wrongful jailing of a Florida woman falsely linked to a crash by Flock data. In New Jersey, Edison approved dozens of new cameras and its first thermal-equipped drone despite privacy objections and ACLU criticism of the state's long data retention. In Texas, the fight has split communities: cities including College Station, Carrollton, Kyle, Conroe, and Laredo have voted to keep or renew Flock contracts even after Gov. Greg Abbott froze state funding amid an investigation into grant spending, while roughly two dozen other Texas cities and counties have moved to end their agreements, and Houston and Dallas are scaling back grant-funded cameras while keeping city-funded ones running.
