President Donald Trump expressed his support for a fast-growing surveillance tool opposed by many Americans, saying he likes Flock cameras “because of law enforcement.”
“I sort of like them because of that, because of law enforcement, but some people don’t,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday in his first public comments endorsing the technology. “They think it’s an infringement. I like them.”
Trump has previously sidestepped questions about his stance on the artificial intelligence-powered license-plate readers that have provoked broad privacy and surveillance concerns. Asked about them in the Oval Office last month, he said: “It’s being studied right now. We’ll have an answer … as to our views on it over the next couple of weeks.”
Atlanta-based Flock has a network of more than 120,000 cameras across the U.S. The cameras record 20 billion license plate scans every month, the company says, which have helped officers investigate 1 million crimes a year.
The A.I.-powered surveillance systems had broad support as recently as last year, but an August survey by YouGov of approximately 20,000 U.S. adults found that 46 percent said they oppose the technology being used in their communities, compared with 38 percent support.
The same month, an investigation by The Washington Post found dozens of law enforcement officers have been charged with or accused of misusing the plate-reading technology. Soon after, Flock announced changes to its platform to prevent the camera network from being abused by police officers, including a requirement for every search to be labeled with a criminal case number.
But the technology has increasingly become a topic of political debate ahead of the midterm elections, with candidates from both parties outlining their opposition to them.
“Do you ever feel like you are in a cage, kind of stuck, being watched?” U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed asked in a video posted last month. “Well, that is because you are,” the Michigan Democrat continued, before criticizing what he called the “mass proliferation of” Flock cameras across the country.
Rep. Keith Self, a Republican running for reelection in Texas, mentioned the cameras in a social media post, saying: “Big Brother has NO place in the Lone Star State.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) last month said the cameras are “out of control.”
“I don’t want to have this become a surveillance state,” he added.
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