A spokesman for Flock Safety told The Tennessee Star on Saturday that it is ready to work with public officials in Knox County, where Mayor Glenn Jacobs recently called for Flock cameras to be removed, as well as lawmakers in the Tennessee General Assembly, where State Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) said legislation targeting the cameras would be introduced in January 2027.
Flock Safety public relations manager Paris Lewbel provided a statement to The Star in response to an inquiry about the bill recently submitted to Congress by U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02), which would prohibit federal agencies from purchasing or using the company’s license plate reader (LPR) technology. It would also block state and local governments from using federal funding to purchase the company’s products.
“Flock strongly supports legislation that creates guardrails for how license plate recognition data is used and shared, while preserving the effectiveness of this important public safety tool,” Lewbel stated.
According to the Flock spokesman, the company’s products come with built-in safeguards, some of which can be activated in response to local, state, or federal policy:
We believe privacy and safety must coexist. Our system is built with safeguards from the ground up that include requiring users to provide a specific investigative reason for every search, recording searches in audit logs tied to individual users, allowing agencies to restrict access and data sharing, automatically blocking searches prohibited by law or agency policy, and deleting license plate data after 30 days by default. We also provide public transparency portals and auditing tools that allow agencies, elected officials, and communities to review how the technology is being used.”
Lewbel also told The Star that Jacobs’ call for the Knox County Commission to prohibit the cameras stemmed from “some confusion” about Flock’s technology.
“We have observed some confusion in Knox County about how the technology works and the protections already in place. Accurate information about public safety technology coupled with strong safeguards and policy help build public trust,” said the spokesman. “Flock stands ready to work with Knox County and lawmakers at every level to help develop safeguards that protect privacy while preserving an important public safety capability.”
In his statement, Jacobs argued last week that Flock’s cameras are substantially different from the LPRs that Knox County considered when the county first approved the technology in 2014.
According to Jacobs, “AI and deep learning, vehicle attribute recognition, multi-camera and multi-object tracking, [and] vastly increased networking and data retention capabilities,” make Flock cameras “much different devices” than the LPRs that hit the market a decade ago.
In response to the mayor’s statement, Zachary said the Tennessee General Assembly would consider legislation regarding Flock cameras when lawmakers return to Nashville next year.
“Thanks Mayor,” wrote Zachary. “It is on the list when we go back in session in January of 27.”
Flock Safety recently announced a nationwide safety audit would begin in Tennessee after a highway safety advocate raised concerns about its installations in the Volunteer State. Flock reported that 16 of its camera poles were adjusted.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Flock Camera” by Paul Goyette. CC BY 4.0.
