Flock surveillance cameras become midterm campaign target as voters balk
at tech companies' power
[September 04, 2026]
By SARAH RANKIN
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Wisconsin's candidates for governor want to limit
them, while Pennsylvania's say they support a ban. A Michigan
congressional candidate called them “un-American.” A Florida Senate
candidate is selling merch opposing them.
Across the country and up and down ballots, candidates from both parties
are increasingly on the attack over Flock cameras, the AI-powered
nationwide network of automated cameras that record license plates and
other characteristics of all passing vehicles, allowing law enforcement
agencies to search and share that data. Although police say the cameras
are an invaluable crime-fighting tool, some critics say their
pervasiveness amounts to unconstitutional warrantless mass surveillance.
The cameras sold by Atlanta-based Flock Safety, which the company has
said are running in 6,000 communities in every state but Alaska, have
become a new campaign issue that candidates and strategists see as part
of a backlash against powerful technology companies, connected to
broader debates over the future of artificial intelligence and the
associated boom in data center construction.
We’ve seen candidates running on banning them, cutting off funding, or
requiring warrants. That’s a credit to activists across the country who
have raised concerns about their use,” Michael Soyfer, an attorney for
the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm litigating over
the technology, said in a statement.
In response to questions about the cameras as a campaign theme, a Flock
spokeswoman emphasized the company's claims about the power of its
technology, saying it helped “solve approximately one million crimes and
helped reunite roughly 10,000 missing people with their families.”
“We ask anyone weighing in on this issue to engage with the facts and
the record: the crimes solved, the families reunited, the safeguards
already in place, and what our technology actually does,” said MoMo
Zhou, the company's vice president of communications. “We ask them to
work with the communities using this technology to decide what rules
should govern it and not to spread misinformation or ban a critical
public safety tool outright that is helping to make communities safer.”
Flock opponents cite privacy concerns
License plate reader technology is decades old, and Flock was founded in
2017. But the company has faced a growing backlash this year — one
that's crescendoed in recent weeks. It has come as awareness has grown
about the sweeping reach of Flock's network, litigation has unfolded
over constitutional questions related to the use of the cameras, and
news media have documented cases of officers misusing the technology to
stalk personal connections.
James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas,
recently declared, “Flock cameras have no place in Texas.” His
Republican opponent Ken Paxton's campaign didn't respond to a request
for comment.
Josh Shapiro, the Democratic Pennsylvania governor seeking reelection
and considered a potential contender for the White House in 2028, said
this week he would support a statewide ban. His Republican opponent,
Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, said in a statement, “Flock
cameras are an intrusive invasion of privacy and they should be banned.”
In Wisconsin, the issue dominated the governor's race this week.
Democratic nominee David Crowley, who is taking hits over his past
comments in support of making Wisconsin a global AI and data hub,
highlighted that he had issued an order limiting the use of Flock
cameras in Milwaukee County, where he serves as county executive. He
said that as governor he would “implement strict transparency and
accountability laws that ensure Wisconsinites are not spied on.”
His Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, said in a statement that
he would pause state funding for Flock cameras and create a task force
to establish stronger privacy protections, penalties for misuse, limits
on data retention and sharing and “safeguards against Communist China
and foreign adversaries.”
The Wisconsin Democratic Party responded by posting a clip of Tiffany in
April saying in response to a question about Flock cameras that he
didn’t know what they were. Then the state Republican Party hit back,
saying “Big Brother Crowley” had a long record of previously supporting
police surveillance technologies.
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The issue has also infiltrated Rhode Island’s gubernatorial race,
where Democratic Gov. Dan McKee paused the installation of new
cameras just weeks before the state’s Sept. 9 primary, citing
privacy and transparency concerns. His primary opponent, former CVS
executive Helena Foulkes, has questioned McKee’s motives for
stopping the rollout so close to the election but agreed a review of
how the data is being used was needed.
In Michigan, self-described democratic socialist William Lawrence, a
Democratic nominee for the U.S. House, recently addressed the
cameras by calling them “the most un-American thing I can imagine.”
A spokesman for his opponent, incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett, noted that
Barrett is a co-sponsor of legislation intended to ban federal
agencies from using Flock cameras or other surveillance technology
and to prevent state and local governments from using federal funds
to buy them.
In Florida, where outgoing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis's
administration this week ordered the removal of automated license
plate readers from state highway rights-of-way, Democratic Senate
nominee Angie Nixon's campaign is selling a T-shirt that reads,
“FLORIDA NEEDS TO GET THE FLOCK OUT.”
Law enforcement groups support the technology
While calls for bans or restrictions have mounted, other candidates
have expressed more supportive or nuanced views, and policing groups
have reiterated their strong backing for the company and its tech.
Mitchell Davis III, chief of police in Hazel Crest, Illinois, and
the president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement
Executives, said in an interview that technology like Flock’s is
“invaluable” and that the conversations around it have become
“disturbing.”
“The disturbing thing for me right now is I’m seeing these
communities that are telling their police departments that we’re no
longer using these (automated license plate readers) in our
communities, and that, I believe, that’s a huge mistake. Talk about
the proverbial throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” he said.
“Instead of focusing on eliminating the cameras, make sure that
there’s proper guidelines and proper accountability for misuse of
the cameras.”
President Donald Trump said recently at an Oval Office event that
his administration was studying the issue and would have more to say
soon.
Cayce Myers, an attorney who teaches courses that touch on public
relations, political communications and privacy issues at Virginia
Tech University, said Americans are increasingly living in a world
where they are interfacing with new technologies like Flock cameras
whether they want to or not.
“I think there’s a real synergy between the camera systems that
we’re talking about and also this greater societal discomfort with
AI and technology in general,” he said, adding that it seems obvious
that new surveillance technologies will continue to become a major
political issue.
For Josh Chavez, Flock cameras are one of his concerns about the
intersection of emerging technologies and civil liberties in his
stretch of West Texas where data center projects are proliferating.
Chavez, an HVAC installer, is outspoken enough on data centers that
he was invited to participate in a recent roundtable on the subject
with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, who is also a
Flock critic.
“This is the government seeking more power, right?” Chavez said of
the cameras. “In a partnership with Big Tech, who is seeking more
money, all at the expense of us.”
___
Associated Press reporters Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Marc
Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence,
Rhode Island; and Gary Fields in Washington contributed to this
report.
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