Flock

Regulations for automated license plate readers have been revised twice this year by police Chief Doreen Jokerst, who took over the department in October 2024.

Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, of Missouri, introduced the Stop Flock Abuse Act, calling the automated license plate reader system “a nightmare for individual liberties.”

Flock Safety cameras have sparked bipartisan uproar with many worried that the cameras, which scan license plates, infringe on privacy. Misuse of the cameras and their data has been documented across Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. Also, more farmers are fixing up their decades-old equipment rather than buying new.

Hawley said his main worries were personal privacy and that people have the right to be treated as innocent until proven guilty.

Most Midwestern states have little to no regulations of Flock Safety cameras or other automated license plate readers. As surveillance companies face bipartisan backlash, that is likely to change during the next legislative session.

A KCUR analysis of data collected from hundreds of automated license plate readers in the Kansas City area shows out-of-state police departments account for thousands of searches. Across the metro, people are demanding a stop to the unfettered collection of their information.

Gov. Mike Kehoe signed an executive order to create safeguards around Flock Safety camera use. The move follows months of debate on Flock cameras over safety and privacy concerns.

Lee’s Summit police now require every police agency in the country to agree to a set of rules before allowing access to Flock data. The department says they may be ‘pioneers’ in this kind of data protection.

A KCUR investigation discovered the department used the city’s license plate readers to track the writer’s movements and it issued a “be on the lookout” for him.