Republican Rep. Pat Harrigan (NC-10) has introduced a bill that would require police to get a warrant for most searches of license-plate reader data. This comes amid a national debate over Flock Safety surveillance cameras, which have been employed by local and state law enforcement agencies to aid crime-fighting efforts.
The measure, H.R. 10822, was introduced October 15 and would also bar agencies from tracking vehicles by features like political or religious bumper stickers, according to Fox News Digital.
Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., introduced a bill Thursday that would ban ALPR searches targeting political or religious messages on vehicles, require warrants for most searches, mandate that records be deleted within 24 hours and prohibit vendors from selling or sharing location data.
"When you consider that these systems track everything that you do, where you work, where your kids go to school, where you even go to church, I think it's pretty easy to understand why people are concerned," Harrigan told Fox News Digital.
"So, that's an extraordinary amount of information about somebody that the government has that has never committed a crime."
Flock cameras and other ALPRs have drawn widespread debate. Law enforcement uses them in criminal investigations to collect searchable license plate, location and other vehicle data that allow officers to search by location and identify vehicles matching a suspect’s vehicle description.
Critics believe they raise constitutional concerns by tracking drivers without consent, while supporters say they are needed for crime prevention. President Donald Trump has voiced support for Flock cameras, telling reporters on Sept. 13 that he "sort of" likes them because of their use by law enforcement despite some people calling them "an infringement."
Harrigan's bill would impose restrictions on all ALPR systems, including prohibiting government agencies from categorizing vehicles by "expressive attributes" like political or religious bumper stickers, flags or decals.
"At the end of the day, they have nothing to do with whether you committed a crime or not," Harrigan said. "As all of this data comes in and is vacuumed in by the government, it becomes searchable, particularly with the new technologies that we have surrounding artificial intelligence."
The bill has been referred to the House Oversight and Judiciary committees and has no cosponsors yet.
Under the bill, most searches of surveillance data would require a warrant based on probable cause. The only exception is an immediate threat to someone’s life or safety. The records would have to be deleted within 24 hours, except in cases involving warrants, emergencies, or court orders.
The measure would also limit companies selling the cameras. They would not be allowed to sell or share location data or use the data to train artificial intelligence models.
Civilians could file lawsuits over illegal searches for at least $1,000 per violation. Evidence obtained illegally through the cameras would be inadmissible in court, and states that don’t adopt similar protections could lose about 10 percent of federal criminal justice funding.
Harrigan acknowledged that “Protecting Americans from criminals and protecting their constitutional rights, to me, those are two core responsibilities of government” but noted that “we have to strike the right balance.”
Concerns about misuse have grown over recent years. In August, the Washington Post found at least 50 officers accused or charged with misusing license-plate readers, and Flock's system was involved in 46 of those cases, according to Fox News Digital.
In Texas, the state comptroller recently took action against Flock surveillance cameras. Several major cities have terminated their contracts with Flock Safety after the nationwide backlash.
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