Lawmakers eye limits on license plate readers
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Legislation is being drafted in the state House of Representatives that would attempt to better safeguard the information collected by the camera system operators.
The legislation is being drafted by Rep. Tarik Khan, D-Philadelphia, with early support coming from Republican Rep. Robert Leadbeter and Democrats Jennifer O’Mara, Napoleon Nelson and Nathan Davidson. According to Khan's co-sponsorship memorandum, the legislation will require strong oversight and privacy safeguards, including clear rules for who may access data, documented reasons for searches, audit trails, data retention standards and transparency requirements. It will also include civil penalties for the unauthorized access, use or disclosure of data, give individuals harmed by misuse the right to bring a civil action, and authorize the state Attorney General and county district attorneys to investigate violations and bring civil enforcement actions.
"As Flock and other license plate reader technology becomes more prevalent across Pennsylvania, it is critical that we establish clear safeguards to protect personal information and liberties, respect privacy, and ensure these powerful technologies are used responsibly," Khan wrote in his memorandum.
Flock is one of the nation's biggest operators of automated license-plate reading systems. Its cameras are mounted in thousands of communities across the U.S., capturing billions of photos of license plates each month. In March, San Jose Spotlight reported on Flock's loss of some California contracts after unauthorized searches of locally collected data.
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View had severed ties with Flock Safety over concerns the company enabled unlawful data-sharing between California law enforcement and out-of-state police. The Associated Press distributed the San Jose Spotlight story, in which Mountain View, Calif., officials revealed Flock had included their camera network in a national "lookup" setting without the city's permission, allowing unauthorized law enforcement agencies to access their data. The news outlet reported that police in Massachusetts, Georgia and other states appeared hundreds of times in a camera network audit of neighboring Los Altos, whose 18 cameras remain operational. The Los Altos network logged 20 searches by out-of-state police for "immigration violation" reasons in the first two months of 2025.
Such stories are one reason Khan is drafting legislation in Pennsylvania. City and State Pennsylvania reported in July that there are roughly 3,250 ALPRs in Pennsylvania and the surrounding areas, according to DeFlock, an open-source project and crowdsourced database that maps the location of ALPRs, particularly Flock surveillance cameras. Of those, 59% are Flock Safety cameras, largely grouped in urban and suburban areas around cities like Allentown, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
"Automated license plate reader systems, including Flock Safety cameras, are becoming increasingly common across Pennsylvania," Khan wrote in his co-sponsorship memorandum. "As their use expands, so do concerns about privacy and the security of the personal information they collect. Across the country, there have been reports of individuals with authorized access allegedly using license plate reader data to stalk former partners, track acquaintances, or monitor individuals for personal or other unauthorized purposes. Pennsylvanians deserve confidence that if this technology is used, their personal information will be protected and those who abuse it will be held accountable. We plan to introduce legislation establishing a statewide accountability framework for the use of Flock and other license plate reader systems in Pennsylvania."