Flock Safety official questioned by WV lawmakers over data storage, access and misuse safeguards

First reported: August 10, 2026 · 3 sources

Kevin Kane, director of government affairs for Flock Safety, appeared Sunday before West Virginia's Joint Standing Committee on Government Organization as more localities in the state adopt automated license plate reader systems. For over an hour, legislators asked how Flock stores data collected by its cameras, who owns and can access it, what security protections exist, and how misuse by users is detected. According to the report, several committee members were not satisfied with the answers provided.

Why this matters

Legislative hearings are one of the few venues where vendors of surveillance technology answer questions publicly, and the unresolved issues raised in West Virginia — data ownership, access controls and audit mechanisms — mirror debates in other states weighing ALPR contracts.

Key facts

Kevin Kane, Flock Safety's director of government affairs, presented to the Joint Standing Committee on Government Organization in Charleston on Sunday.
Questioning lasted more than an hour and focused on data storage, ownership, access, security measures and detection of misuse.
The report states some lawmakers were unimpressed with the answers received; no legislation or policy change was reported as a result.
Local governments across West Virginia have been moving ahead with purchases of Flock equipment.

Sources

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

WV lawmakers unimpressed by Flock rep’s answers to privacy concerns (Bluefield Daily Telegraph, August 10, 2026)
‘Not too reassured’: WV lawmakers unimpressed by Flock rep’s answers to privacy concerns, more (Timeswv, August 10, 2026)
W . Va . lawmakers unimpressed by Flock rep answers to privacy concerns | Local News (register-herald.com, August 10, 2026)

More from West Virginia

Everything we have documented in West Virginia, or search every West Virginia article in the archive.

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 August 17, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.