License plate readers CEOs skip Senate hearing

Our Take

KSDK News caught something worth sitting with: the CEOs of Flock Safety and other license plate reader companies were invited to Capitol Hill to answer questions about the cameras they've bolted onto thousands of American streets, and they simply didn't show. Not a scheduling conflict buried in fine print — a no-show on a hearing about mass surveillance infrastructure that scans your plate, your location, your movements, often without a warrant and often without your city council ever voting on it.

This matters because the entire pitch these companies make to police departments and city councils is built on trust — trust that the data is secure, that access is limited, that the technology won't be abused. Skipping a Senate hearing when lawmakers ask for public answers undercuts that pitch badly. If you're confident your product respects civil liberties, you send someone to say so under oath. Silence reads differently, and it should make every local official currently weighing a Flock contract ask harder questions before signing.

We've said it before: oversight doesn't come from vendor press releases, it comes from communities finding out where these cameras actually are and pushing back when there's no public process. Check our camera map to see what's already been deployed near you, and if your town is debating a new ALPR contract, our take-action page has tools to help you speak up before the vote, not after the cameras go up.