Josh Hawley launches investigation into Flock's 'unprecedented national surveillance network'

Senator Josh Hawley announced Wednesday that he is launching an investigation into Flock Safety and its nationwide network of AI-powered surveillance cameras.

Hawley, who serves as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, sent a letter to Flock CEO Garret Langley demanding answers about what safeguards the company has in place to protect the data collected by its cameras.

“As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, I am investigating Flock Safety’s collection, retention, and dissemination of the data generated by its artificial intelligence surveillance cameras,” Hawley wrote in the letter. “In a few short years, Flock has assembled an unprecedented national surveillance network. Your company boasts more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states and more than 20 billion vehicle scans every month. The overwhelming majority of the Americans captured in those records did nothing wrong. Instead of serving discrete local investigations, as contemplated by our constitutional processes and safeguards, these camera networks harness artificial intelligence to pool what they capture into a national database that customers can search.”

Hawley said that he supports providing law enforcement tools needed to catch criminals, but noted the growing privacy concerns that law-abiding citizens have about Flock cameras collecting data about their movements. He also noted that the Supreme Court has recognized that a “comprehensive, retrospective record of a person’s movements is different in kind from ordinary observation in public.”

“Congress never authorized the network your industry has built,” Hawley said. “Your company’s internal policies are, in practice, the only safeguards for hundreds of millions of Americans. People across the country are now discovering that fact and demanding answers from their elected officials.”

“In light of this abuse of driver information, the American people want to know who has access to their personal data and how,” he continued. “This investigation will seek those answers. To facilitate that, please produce all documents and information specified in the attached annex no later than September 8, 2026. If you have questions about the scope of these requests, please contact my office to discuss.”

The investigation comes as concerns regarding Flock cameras have been raised by both the political left and the right. Critics have noted numerous cases of abuse, such as instances where police officers have used the cameras to spy on romantic partners.

The controversial nature of the cameras has also sparked protests and so-called “Deflock” movements in which activists are removing existing systems from public roadways.