Two bills introduced in Congress this week aim to rein in AI-powered automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras, the networked roadside cameras sold by Flock Safety, Motorola and Axon. On Wednesday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced the Stop Flock Abuse Act. On Friday, Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), introduced a broader bill that would bar the federal government from using ALPR cameras and cut off federal funding to states that deploy them. It would also let Americans sue the federal government if their rights are violated by the cameras. Both bills would cover all ALPR vendors, not just Flock.
Hawley’s bill is narrower. It would bar ALPR companies and local governments from selling or sharing driver data with non-government third parties, shield the data from public records requests, and require written approval and routine supervisor audits before officers search it. It would also require encryption, cap retention at 10 days (Flock now lets departments keep data 30 days in many cases), and block vendors from adding facial recognition to the cameras. The ACLU called bipartisan sponsorship “a very good sign” but said only a ban fully protects people. Flock said it supports guardrails that preserve law enforcement’s use of the tool. It is unclear whether congressional leaders will schedule votes in the lame-duck session after the elections.
The push follows a run of reported abuses. A Florida woman was jailed for 13 days after a wrong Flock match, five Indianapolis police officers were arrested on September 23 for allegedly running dozens or hundreds of Flock searches on personal contacts, and Florida officials in St. Lucie County found 14 Flock cameras they had not permitted. Researcher Joshua Michael published a map of roughly 300,000 Flock-connected devices (Flock says it deploys about 120,000 cameras) after reportedly finding an exposed access token on Flock’s website in November 2025; he says Flock has since sent him a cease-and-desist letter.