Attorney General on Flock Cameras: South Dakota could set the standard on usage

Our Take

Dakota News Now reports that South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley thinks his state has a chance to "set the standard" for how Flock Safety's automated license plate readers get used nationwide. That's a nice soundbite, but we've heard this kind of framing before: an official says they want to lead on policy, and what follows is often a thin set of guidelines that leaves the real questions untouched — who gets access to the data, how long it's stored, which out-of-state agencies can query it, and what happens when ICE or a bounty hunter's cousin in another department taps into the network.

Setting a real standard would mean hard caps on retention, audit trails that the public can actually see, a ban on sharing with agencies chasing immigration status or abortion-related travel, and consequences when those rules get broken. Anything short of that is just a press release dressed up as leadership. South Dakota has a genuine opportunity here, but it's an opportunity to prove ALPR networks can be reined in, not just branded as responsibly run while the cameras keep multiplying.

Credit to Dakota News Now for getting the AG on record — now it's on residents and lawmakers to hold him to something concrete. Check our map to see how far Flock's network already reaches in your area, and visit take action if you want to push back before 'statewide standard' becomes just another word for status quo.