Florida Republican Greg Steube introduced the Flafo Act: federal agencies would need judicial warrants to buy or operate networked license-plate readers or access or share their data; Justice Department grants to local police would be conditional on similar rules.
The bill applies to any maker of the technology but is aimed at Flock Safety. Flock’s website says it operates about 120,000 readers, with thousands more planned, in every state except Alaska; the company accounts for more than 80% of the market. Its cameras record plate numbers, vehicle makes and models, and locations in databases searchable by police in other jurisdictions. Steube cited investigations in Florida, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin that found officers had misused the databases.
Steube’s bill is the third related proposal in a month. Thomas Massie’s Flock-Off Act would prohibit federal money from being used to buy, install, maintain, operate or upgrade license-plate readers and biometric-surveillance cameras. The bipartisan No Flock Act would give states two fiscal years to limit cameras to five approved uses or lose 10% of certain federal transportation funding. Secure Justice says cities in 36 states have canceled Flock contracts. Florida’s transportation department revoked local-police permits to use readers on state roads and ordered existing cameras removed within 30 days. Trump has said he likes the cameras for law enforcement.
