Hawley widens AI camera probe beyond Flock as ‘Big Brother’ privacy fears spread

BS BULLETIN:

Sen. Josh Hawley has expanded his investigation of AI-powered surveillance cameras beyond Flock Safety to Motorola Solutions, Verkada and Axon Enterprise.
Hawley is demanding answers about who can search Americans’ vehicle data, how long information is retained and what prevents abuse.
The scrutiny comes amid documented allegations of misuse and a growing bipartisan backlash against massive license-plate tracking networks.

Sen. Josh Hawley isn’t backing off his investigation of AI-powered surveillance cameras.

He’s making it bigger.

The Missouri Republican has expanded his probe beyond Flock Safety to three more companies — Motorola Solutions, Verkada and Axon Enterprise — as questions mount over just how much information private surveillance networks are collecting about Americans and who gets to search it.

Flock does not stand alone in the surveillance industry.

Other companies are also building large camera networks, assisted by artificial intelligence, that intrude on the privacy of all Americans

That is why I’m expanding my investigation

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) September 3, 2026

Hawley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, sent letters to the companies demanding information about their collection, retention and dissemination of data generated by AI surveillance cameras. His concern is straightforward: Technology designed to help police catch criminals can also create an enormous searchable record of where ordinary Americans go.

“Flock does not stand alone in this industry,” Hawley wrote. “You and others are building large camera networks, assisted by artificial intelligence, that intrude on the privacy of all Americans.”

Hawley’s original investigation targeted Flock Safety, which says its technology helps law enforcement solve crimes and find missing people.

Americans do not surrender their privacy rights when they drive to work, drop their kids off at school, or go to church.

I’m investigating Flock cameras to determine WHO has access to hundreds of millions of Americans’ data – and what they’re doing with it pic.twitter.com/NsycLJaMMA

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 26, 2026

But the sheer scale of the system has fueled growing concern.

In his letters, Hawley cited Flock’s claim that it has more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states generating more than 20 billion vehicle scans each month. The overwhelming majority of people whose movements are captured, Hawley noted, haven’t committed any crime.

And the senator isn’t raising purely hypothetical concerns. Hawley pointed to a case in St. Charles County, Missouri, where police terminated their Flock contract after an audit found a civilian employee had used searches for personal reasons unrelated to law enforcement.

He also cited the prosecution of a Milwaukee police officer accused of searching his girlfriend’s license plate 124 times and her former boyfriend’s plate another 55 times.

Then there are potentially costly mistakes.

Hawley cited a Florida woman who spent 13 days in jail and faced eight felony charges after investigators used Flock’s network in searching for a vehicle. Prosecutors later dismissed the charges after authorities determined they had the wrong person and arrested someone else.

He also pointed to a California police department that found 71% of its Flock alerts were incorrect, and an audit showing Los Angeles officers had stopped 161 vehicles wrongly flagged as stolen over two months.

Hawley isn’t arguing that police shouldn’t have technology capable of helping them catch criminals.

“To be sure, I want law enforcement to have tools to catch offenders and keep the public safe,” he wrote.

But he warned that Americans are discovering that little-known private companies can potentially possess extraordinarily detailed information about their movements.

Hawley wants Motorola, Verkada and Axon to disclose how broadly customers can search their data, how long license-plate information is retained, how many confirmed incidents of misuse have occurred since 2021 and what safeguards prevent unauthorized searches. The companies have until Sept. 16 to produce the requested information.

Axon told Fox News it had received Hawley’s letter and welcomed the opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to “safety and responsible innovation.”

Meanwhile, the backlash against automated license-plate readers is spreading well beyond Hawley’s investigation.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered license-plate readers removed from state highway rights-of-way, while Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered state agencies to stop spending state funds on Flock cameras. Candidates from both parties around the country are now calling for bans or tighter restrictions on the technology.

The question increasingly isn’t whether these cameras can help catch criminals. It’s whether building a searchable record of millions of innocent Americans’ movements comes with a price the country isn’t willing to pay.