KBIA | By Max Quinn

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., announced Wednesday that he is investigating Flock Safety and its nationwide camera network for privacy concerns.

Hawley, who serves as the chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, demanded Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley provide answers on what safeguards the company employs to protect Americans' data, according to a news release from the senator's office.

Flock cameras have brought mixed responses in Columbia, sparking protests over the city's surveillance and policing practices, according to previous KOMU 8 reporting.

Several Missouri communities, including St. Charles and Pulaski counties, have also recently discontinued their contracts for Flock Safety automated license plate readers, according to previous reporting.

Hawley specifically pointed to a St. Charles County police officer who had Flock run searches for personal reasons. In his letter to Langley, Hawley wrote that "sadly, (his) home state is not an outlier."

He also pointed to instances of alleged abuse in Wisconsin, Florida and California.

Hawley said the company had grown into an "unprecedented" national surveillance network in a few years, according to the release.

"Your company boasts more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states and more than 20 billion vehicle scans every month," Hawley wrote. "The overwhelming majority of the Americans captured in those records did nothing wrong."

He said that instead of serving discrete local investigations, the camera networks use artificial intelligence to pool what they capture into a national database, according to the release.

Hawley said he wants law enforcement to be well equipped, but the cameras' constant surveillance could infringe on citizens' privacy rights.

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

He said since Congress has not authorized the kind of network Flock Safety built, the company's internal policies are essentially the only safeguards Americans have against the cameras.

In light of these privacy concerns, Hawley is requesting the company produce all documents and statements he requested no later than Sept. 8, according to the release.

Two weeks ago, Hawley also held a hearing on AI surveillance pricing and consumer data uses, according to the news release.

Flock Safety is valued at $8.3 billion, according to the release.

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