1. United States
2. Hawaii
3. Letter

Subject: Urgent Call to Ban Flock Cameras and All Similar Warrantless Mass Surveillance Technologies in Hawaii Dear Senators Schatz and Hirono, and Representatives Case and Tokuda, As a concerned constituent and Hawaii resident committed to protecting our constitutional rights and the unique aloha spirit of our islands, I urge you to take immediate action to ban Flock Safety cameras and any similar forms of automated license plate readers (ALPRs), facial recognition, or AI-powered mass surveillance systems from public use in Hawaii. These technologies represent an unwarranted expansion of government power that directly violates the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, and they threaten the privacy and freedoms that define our democracy. Flock cameras and comparable systems quietly capture billions of license plate images and vehicle movements every month, creating detailed digital records of ordinary citizens’ daily lives without individualized suspicion or warrants. In Hawaii, dozens of these cameras are already deployed across Oahu and other islands, feeding data into shared networks accessible by local police and potentially federal agencies. While proponents claim they aid crime-solving, the reality is a pervasive surveillance infrastructure that tracks innocent people going about their routines—visiting family, places of worship, medical appointments, or political gatherings—without any probable cause. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that prolonged, warrantless tracking of an individual’s movements reveals intimate details of their life and constitutes an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. Recent rulings on cell phone location data underscore that aggregating location information—even from public roads—crosses a constitutional line when it enables mass surveillance. Flock systems do exactly that: they build long-term movement profiles far beyond what any single officer could observe manually. This is not targeted policing; it is the architecture of a surveillance state. Hawaii’s island geography and close-knit communities make this especially alarming. Our residents deserve to live without constant government monitoring. These tools erode trust in law enforcement, invite misuse (as seen in recent cases of officers abusing Flock access for personal reasons), risk erroneous identifications due to misreads, and open the door to data sharing with federal agencies or third parties without transparency or accountability. I respectfully request that you: • Introduce or co-sponsor federal legislation prohibiting the use of federal funds for such surveillance technologies in Hawaii and supporting a nationwide ban on warrantless mass ALPR and similar systems. • Advocate for strong state-level legislation in Hawaii that makes deployment of Flock cameras or equivalent technologies by any government entity (including police) illegal without individualized warrants based on probable cause. • Hold hearings or push for oversight on existing deployments in our state to ensure data is not retained or shared improperly. Public safety can and must be achieved through constitutional means—community policing, targeted investigations, and respect for individual rights—without sacrificing the freedoms our Constitution guarantees. Hawaii should lead the way in rejecting these invasive tools, preserving our privacy and civil liberties for future generations. Thank you for your attention to this critical matter. I look forward to your leadership on protecting Hawaii from unwarranted surveillance and upholding our constitutional principles. Please let me know how I can support your efforts. Sincerely,