U.S. Senators Britt, Warnock send letter to DOJ urging Flock camera guardrails
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Special to the News
U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) sent a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide state and local law enforcement agencies with guidance on how to prevent the misuse of automatic license plate readers (ALPR), like Flock Safety cameras.
“Flock cameras have proven to be a valuable tool for law enforcement in keeping our communities safe. While I support the technology’s aim, I also believe commonsense safeguards can prevent misuse by a small number of bad actors. That’s why I look forward to working with Sen. Warnock alongside the Department of Justice to ensure this technology is used responsibly by our law enforcement officers,” said Sen. Britt.
ALPR cameras capture the plate, make, model, and color of passing cars. The cameras are used by law enforcement agencies across the country to find stolen vehicles, locate missing people and investigate other crimes. The senators’ letter comes amidst growing national concern over the misuse of ALPR technology.
“We are deeply concerned about the misuse of ALPR systems and believe that appropriate safeguards are necessary to protect against unauthorized access and abuse, including by individuals who might misuse the technology to stalk and harass their victims. We also want to ensure that funding of these technologies is paired with appropriate oversight to ensure that the funding is not used to facilitate such abuse,” wrote the senators.
In part, the letter reads, “We write with great concern over widespread reports regarding the misuse of automatic license plate reader (ALPR) systems, which may be purchased with federal funding. Specifically, reporting indicates that in dozens of cases across the country, police officers have improperly and, in some cases, illegally used ALPR technology to stalk and harass their current, former, or prospective romantic partners.”
The letter further reads, “State and local law enforcement agencies have widely adopted ALPR systems in recent years to conduct traffic enforcement and support criminal investigations. Flock’s ALPR network, the largest in the country, currently contains more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states, with 140,000 monthly active users. ALPRs perform billions of scans of vehicles in the U.S. per month, converting those scans into searchable data on the vehicle’s features, its location and the time. This data is then uploaded into databases and retained for a certain period depending on state laws and regulations, sometimes as long as several years.”
“Law enforcement officers have also faced numerous allegations of misusing ALPR systems,” the letter reads. “In Georgia, at least 20 law enforcement officers have been arrested after abusing their access to ALPR systems. Law enforcement officers in 11 other states have resigned, lost their jobs, or faced investigations after abusing ALPR systems. In total, at least 50 law enforcement officers to date have been charged with, or accused of, using ALPR systems for unauthorized purposes. At least 30 of these cases involve law enforcement officers stalking their current, former, or prospective romantic partners. In one case, a police chief used an ALPR system to stalk a former partner by searching the vehicle tags for her and her daughter around 600 times over the course of thirteen months.”
Sen. Britt prioritizes responsible technological innovation. She has pushed for increased guardrails for minors regarding AI, social media and gambling, and she leads numerous pieces of legislation in the Senate, including the GUARD Act, Stop the Scroll Act and the GAME Act. She continues to fight for the privacy and safety of Americans, in addition to ensuring America continues to lead the AI race against China.
