Tell Congress: Investigate Flock Surveillance

Flock cameras already reach far beyond traffic stops — and the federal watchdog built to catch abuse has been gutted.

Flock Safety is a company that makes camera systems for police departments, mainly cameras that automatically read and log license plates, but also other surveillance tools. Flock has installed more than 120,000 of these cameras in 49 states, and it links them all together into one giant, searchable nationwide network.

Privacy advocates say this adds up to a mass surveillance system.

Instead of protecting us from surveillance, the executive branch through ICE has signed agreements with state and local governments, meaning ICE can also tap the Flock network for its activities.

Not only that, but the administration has stripped the one independent federal board built to catch abuse down to a single member, with no power left to open new investigations.4

Congress can still act. It can demand answers about how federal and local law enforcement are using this network, what happens with the data they collect, and the extent to which they are intruding on our privacy–and it can pass laws to protect us all from mass surveillance. But only if enough of us let Congress know the people are paying attention.

Customize Your Letter

To my member of Congress,

I'm writing as your constituent because I'm alarmed by the unchecked growth of Flock Safety's nationwide license-plate camera network — and by how easily it's already being misused.

Flock's automated readers, now installed in more than 120,000 locations across 49 states, feed one searchable database that lets any connected police department pull footage collected far outside its own jurisdiction. This includes footage from cameras that private homeowners and businesses installed on their own property.

Meanwhile, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board — the one independent federal body built to check whether programs like this violate our constitutional rights — has been cut down to a single member and can no longer legally open new investigations.

I'm asking you to use your oversight authority to establish the facts about how federal and state and local law enforcement are using Flock's camera network, for what purposes, and under what legal basis — and to ensure effective oversight and protection from mass surveillance.

Sincerely,