Gov. Kehoe signs executive order restricting Flock Safety data

Our Take

Credit to KOMU 8 News for getting this on record: Gov. Mike Kehoe put pen to paper on an executive order aimed at curbing misuse of Flock Safety's automated license plate reader data. That a sitting governor felt compelled to act tells you the public pressure on this issue is real — people are waking up to the fact that a network of cameras quietly logging every car that passes is not a neutral, harmless tool.

But let's be clear-eyed about what an executive order actually is: a directive that can be rewritten or rescinded by the next governor, not a statute passed by lawmakers with teeth and permanence. Restricting "misuse" also leaves plenty of room for the baseline use — indefinite retention, cross-jurisdiction data sharing, and access by agencies with no local accountability — to continue unchecked. Guardrails are good. They are not the same as dismantling the surveillance apparatus itself.

Missouri residents who want to know how exposed their own neighborhoods are can check our camera map to see documented Flock installations near them, and if you want this fight to move from executive orders to real legislative limits — or outright bans — take action and push your local and state representatives to go further than a memo on a governor's desk.