1. United States
2. Kan.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to launch an investigation into Flock Safety and the use of its automated license plate reader technology, which poses serious national security threats and subjects American citizens to unconstitutional surveillance. Recent reporting by 404 Media, based on internal emails obtained through public records requests, revealed that local police departments in Oregon created an informal "Southern Oregon Analyst Group" where they casually share surveillance tools and services with each other and with federal agencies including ICE's Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI. This collaboration circumvents legal protections designed to ensure proper oversight. The emails from 2021 to 2024 show crime analysts from Medford Police Department, Josephine County Sheriff's Office, Ashland Police Department, Central Point Police Department, Oregon State Police, FBI Portland, and ICE HSI freely offering surveillance services to one another. In one documented case from 2021, an HSI crime analyst requested automated license plate reader checks from Medford Police Department on two vehicles, and the analyst complied by searching records back to January 1, 2019. In 2024, the same Medford analyst asked the HSI agent to search border crossing databases for a case involving another department. This informal sharing network explains how local police nationwide are performing Flock ALPR lookups for ICE and HSI even though neither agency has contracts to use the technology. Kelly Simon, legal director for the ACLU of Oregon, stated that such collaboration should require court oversight and warrants to ensure probable cause and appropriate limits. She noted that Oregon has strong shield laws and sanctuary laws specifically designed to create firewalls between local and federal resources. The lack of oversight in these arrangements means there are no checks on probable cause, no limits on the scope of information sought, and no accountability for how this surveillance data is used. This system enables mass surveillance of American citizens without constitutional protections. I urge you to investigate Flock Safety's role in facilitating these unconstitutional surveillance networks and to pursue legislation requiring strict oversight, warrant requirements, and transparency for any use of automated license plate reader technology.