September 2, 2026
by R. Cort Kirkwood
Congressional resistance to law enforcement’s use of Flock cameras for warrantless surveillance is accelerating. The growing concern centers on how these devices allow police to circumvent the Fourth Amendment protections enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
Last week, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley wrote to Garrett Langley, CEO of Flock Safety, demanding documents and information about the company’s widespread surveillance practices. This follows a recent announcement by Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna that they will introduce legislation prohibiting federal funding for Flock cameras.
Earlier this week, Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert highlighted risks posed by the technology, noting she and Massie introduced legislation in April requiring warrants for government access to Flock data.
Hawley described Flock as having built an “unprecedented national surveillance network” with 120,000 cameras and over 20 billion vehicle scans monthly. He stated that Americans captured by the system have done “nothing wrong,” but criticized how the technology pools data into a national database without individualized suspicion.
Hawley cited alarming cases of abuse:
– Missouri’s St. Charles County police ended Flock surveillance after a civilian employee conducted searches “for personal reasons.”
– Los Angeles County found Flock incorrectly flagged 161 vehicles as stolen.
– In Wisconsin, a police officer allegedly searched his girlfriend’s license plate 124 times and her former boyfriend’s plate 55 times under the pretext of “investigation.”
– A Florida woman was jailed for 13 days and faced eight felony charges after investigators used Flock data to identify a vehicle owner; prosecutors later dismissed the charges when they discovered an error and arrested someone else.
Hawley warned Langley that Congress “never authorized” the network Flock has built, demanding by September 8 detailed reports on how customers search data, retention policies, and confirmed instances of misuse since January 2021.
Massie and Khanna share these concerns. Speaking to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, they announced legislation aimed at stopping federal funding for surveillance tools. Massie emphasized that while Congress cannot ban Flock, it can withhold funds: “If you want to have them, you can pay for them yourselves, but don’t ask the federal government to be part of this.”
Khanna also raised concerns about women being stalked by law enforcement using Flock cameras to locate exes or current partners. He stressed the need for oversight: “There should be a process if you’re a police officer that you shouldn’t just be able to look at this information without getting layers of approval and authorization.”
Boebert, in an article for the Daily Caller, warned that fixed license plate readers create “zones of constant monitoring” by logging travel patterns without explicit warrants. Her proposed bill would require judicial warrants for all government searches, ban persistent location databases, and prevent federal agencies from purchasing data to bypass warrants. The legislation also prohibits federal agents from pressuring local police to share warrantless surveillance data.
Massie concluded: “The Fourth Amendment is not a suggestion.”