Federal judge rules warrantless Flock camera searches may violate Fourth Amendment

On October 2, 2026, U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill ruled that a Tulsa County deputy sheriff's warrantless search of a driver's travel history using Flock Safety and VehicleManager automated license plate readers violated the Fourth Amendment. Hill ordered the resulting drug arrest evidence suppressed, warning against persistent, dragnet-style surveillance. Flock Safety plans to appeal, while bipartisan political efforts continue to restrict the technology's use.

The court ruling on warrantless searches

• ▪On October 2, 2026, U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill ruled a Tulsa County deputy sheriff's warrantless search of a driver's travel history using automated license plate reader databases violated the Fourth Amendment, ordering the suppression of evidence obtained
• ▪U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill wrote that persistent, dragnet-style surveillance becomes constitutionally problematic when law enforcement indiscriminately and passively catalogs whereabouts over an extended period
• ▪A spokesperson for Flock Safety stated that U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill's October 2, 2026 ruling goes against the weight of authority, is limited to specific facts, and is expected to be appealed

The deputy's search of the driver's history

• ▪A Tulsa County deputy sheriff initiated a Flock and VehicleManager database search after noticing a woman driver had an out-of-state license plate, eventually observing an infraction to pull her over
• ▪A Tulsa County deputy sheriff used Flock and VehicleManager databases to find over 50 sightings of a woman driver's vehicle across several states before identifying any traffic violation

Proposed federal legislation on license plate readers

• ▪Senators Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley, alongside Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, introduced legislation to prohibit federal agencies from using automated license plate reader technology
• ▪Federal legislation introduced by Sanders, Merkley and Ocasio-Cortez would also pause government grant funding for local law enforcement agencies seeking to contract with automated license plate reader manufacturers

Debatable claims

• ▪Tracking vehicle travel history through ALPR databases violates a reasonable expectation of privacy
• ▪The federal government should ban federal agencies from using automated license plate readers