Kehoe Limits Flock Cameras in MO

Our Take

KC Week in Review flags a real development: Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe signing an executive order to put some guardrails on automated license plate readers like Flock. That a state's chief executive felt compelled to act on ALPR sprawl at all tells you how far this technology has outrun public debate — cameras went up across neighborhoods, highways, and small towns with little legislative scrutiny, and now the backlash is forcing a response.

But executive orders are a soft fix. They can be rewritten, ignored, or quietly rescinded by the next administration, and they rarely come with the teeth of statute — no penalties, no private right of action, no guaranteed audit trail. Real safeguards against mass license-plate surveillance need to be written into law by elected legislators, debated in public, and enforced by someone other than the agencies that benefit from the data. Missourians should be watching closely to see whether this order actually curbs data retention, interagency sharing, and out-of-state lookups, or just offers political cover while the cameras keep scanning.

Credit to KC Week in Review for putting this on the radar. If you want to see how many Flock and ALPR cameras are already watching Missouri roads — and the rest of the country — check our map, and if you want to push for real, binding limits instead of executive-order theater, head to take action.