License Plate Cameras

A New Bill Reflects the Bipartisan Backlash Against Flock-Enabled Mass Surveillance

Criticism from Trump allies and recent survey results show that resistance to widespread deployment of automated license plate readers spans the political spectrum.

Jacob Sullum | 9.3.2026 3:05 PM

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Reps. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) and Eric Burlison (R–Mo.) this week introduced the Flock-Off Act, a bill that would bar federal funding of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) except at the border or for toll enforcement. "The federal government shouldn't provide 'security' grants to cities and police departments that have gone beyond the pale and turned their communities into a version of 1984," Massie said on Wednesday. "Federal taxpayers should not be forced to fund the surveillance state."

The bill—the name of which calls out Flock Safety, the leading ALPR vendor—is cosponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.) along with four Republicans: Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Chip Roy (Texas), and Victoria Spartz (Ind.). It illustrates the bipartisan, trans-ideological nature of the backlash against AI-assisted ALPRs, which cities across the country installed without giving much thought to privacy concerns or the potential for abuse. During the last year or so, Americans across the political spectrum, including national politicians, local legislators, and police officials, have belatedly recognized the implications of a nationwide surveillance network that operates without judicial oversight and often without meaningful supervision of any sort.

"On the right, critics typically attack the cameras as government overreach," Vox writer Caitlin Dewey noted last week. "On the left, critics frequently link the cameras to corporate surveillance, racist policing, the erosion of abortion rights, and immigration enforcement."

Civil liberties groups such as the Institute for Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have been sounding the alarm about ALPR surveillance for years. But thanks partly to revelations about blatant police abuse of ALPR databases, including cops who have used them to stalk ex-girlfriends, possibly unfaithful spouses, objects of romantic interest, or personal nemeses, public opinion is starting to reflect those organizations' concerns.

In a national YouGov survey conducted last week, 46 percent of respondents said they would oppose the use of ALPRs "for law........

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