Florida revokes ALPR permits and Sen. Hawley opens Flock probe amid national privacy debate

Event: August 31, 2026 · First reported: September 8, 2026 · 1 source

Florida's Department of Transportation revoked permits for license plate reader systems on state roadways in an Aug. 31 memo and ordered removal within 30 days, with COO Will Watts citing rapid deployment growth alongside reports of misuse and data privacy concerns. Separately, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, sent an Aug. 26 letter to Flock CEO Garrett Langley launching an inquiry into the company's data retention, access and search controls. Flock has said it will roll out new safeguards, including shortening default data retention from 30 days to seven, requiring case codes for searches and adding automated flagging of unusual search activity. Kansas City Missouri Police Department Sgt. Philip DiMartino defended the cameras as one investigative tool among many, pointing to a robbery case in which plate reader data was combined with social media, surveillance and witness accounts.

Why this matters

A statewide permit revocation and a congressional inquiry represent two of the most significant oversight actions to date on a technology deployed in tens of thousands of locations, and the disclosures both seek — retention periods, audit trails and who may search the data — are the same questions facing local councils weighing their own contracts.

Key facts

Florida DOT's Aug. 31 memo revoked LPR permits on state roadways and required removal within 30 days; Gov. Ron DeSantis said the systems had gotten "out of control."
Hawley's Aug. 26 letter cites roughly 20 billion vehicle scans monthly across 49 states, a California department reporting 71% of alerts were incorrect, LAPD ending its contract after 161 vehicles were wrongly flagged as stolen in two months, and a Florida woman held seven months after a plate-based accusation.
Hawley also alleged a Milwaukee police officer ran searches on his girlfriend's and her ex-boyfriend's plates more than 175 times combined.
Flock's Langley says nine of every 1 million alerts involve human-reported errors, and promised a September summary of a product review conducted with security firm Bishop Fox.
Polling cited: about 41% of Americans hold an unfavorable view of the cameras (USA Today); an Aug. 24-26 Overton Insights/Texas Public Policy Foundation poll found 63% of likely Texas voters opposed and 28% supportive.
The ACLU estimates roughly 120,000 Flock cameras are deployed nationally.

Sources

This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.

National debate over Flock cameras heats up with state suspensions and Senate investigation (Heartlander News, September 8, 2026)

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About this record

BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.

Updated September 8, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.