(The Center Square) – At least one issue unites both candidates for governor: regulating Flock cameras and other automated license plate reading systems, or ALPRs.
“Flock cameras are an intrusive invasion of privacy and they should be banned,” said State Treasurer Stacy Garrity in a statement on Tuesday.
The GOP gubernatorial candidate’s announcement, first reported by the Washington Examiner on Monday, comes a few days after Gov. Josh Shapiro made his position on the technology clear.
“I would welcome bipartisan legislation to ban these across the state,” Shapiro said in response to a question from The Center Square on Friday. “This is not something I support.”
“This is not something in the public interest,” he continued. “I think law enforcement needs to have tools to keep communities safe. Flock cameras are not a tool that I support.”
The issue has increasingly become front of mind for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in recent weeks.
On Thursday, three different lawmakers serving in the state Senate announced plans to introduce legislation to regulate them.
GOP state Sen. Dan Laughlin, who represents Erie County, said he plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit the use of Flock Safety cameras and substantially similar networked ALPR systems in the state, citing growing concerns that the technology could become a system of mass surveillance.
“Some of these systems do much more than record what happens in a public place,” Laughlin said. “They automatically identify vehicles, catalog their movements and enter that information into a searchable network. That makes it possible to track and reconstruct where a person has traveled over time, even when that person has done nothing wrong.”
State Sen. Lisa Boscola, a Democrat representing parts of Lehigh and Northampton counties, said her bill would ban “knowingly accessing or using an automated surveillance system, or information obtained through such a system, for an unauthorized personal or otherwise unlawful purpose.”
“This legislation would focus on the conduct of the individual user, rather than penalizing a law-enforcement agency or other organization for the independent misconduct of an employee or authorized user,” Boscola wrote in the co-sponsorship memo titled ‘Protecting Pennsylvanians from the Misuse of Automated Surveillance Systems.’ “Legitimate access undertaken for criminal investigations, public safety, missing-person cases, court-authorized purposes, or other lawful official duties would not be prohibited.”
“Technology can make law enforcement more effective, but public confidence in these tools depends on ensuring that access carries meaningful responsibility,” she continued.
Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano said his proposal would also restrict the use of ALPRs, but did argue that there are “legitimate circumstances in which this technology can assist law enforcement.”
“Police looking for a stolen vehicle, an abducted child, a wanted fugitive, or a vehicle specifically connected to a criminal investigation should be able to use appropriate technology to protect the public,” Mastriano said. “But that is fundamentally different from continuously photographing and recording the movements of every motorist who happens to drive past a camera. Police should investigate people when there is a legitimate reason to suspect wrongdoing. Government should not surveil everyone in hopes of finding wrongdoing.”
His proposal, Mastriano said, would “prohibit the routine, suspicionless collection and retention of motorists’ movements through automated license plate surveillance,” adding that this prohibition would “apply to the technology and activity, not merely to one company or brand.”
“Replacing Flock Safety with another vendor should not allow an agency to circumvent the law,” Mastriano said, pointing out that his legislation provides exceptions for when law enforcement has reasons to use this technology.
On Tuesday, a pair of Democratic state Sens. Nick Pisciottano and Patty Kim, said they would introduce companion legislation to a bipartisan proposal in the House led by Representative Khan to “ensure personal data will not be inappropriately accessed, and sensitive, private data is only accessible to appropriate law enforcement conducting lawful investigations,” regarding Flock cameras and similar ALPRs.
Last week, Access Harrisburg reported that there were at least six bills to limit these systems introduced in the state House.
While Garrity announced her position on Monday, it was not the first time she was asked about this technology.
On Friday, Garrity was asked about her thoughts on Flock cameras during an interview with TalkRadio 1210 WPHT.
“So, tell me what they are,” she responded.
After the host explained the technology, Garrity described the cameras as “another example of government overreach.”
The Garrity campaign did not respond to requests for comments from The Center Square immediately following that interview, asking to clarify her position.
On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Republican Party promoted Garrity’s position to “stop the flock.”
“Flock cameras are everywhere. And Stacy Garrity wants to stop them,” the Pennsylvania Republican Party wrote on social media. “The widespread deployment of this technology creates a mass surveillance infrastructure that violates personal privacy, without a warrant.”
“Garrity noted that the cameras are an “intrusive invasion of privacy” and should be banned in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” the state GOP continued. “The mass surveillance of the American people must end.”
While the Pennsylvania Republican Party is touting Garrity’s position, there are a few members who have introduced legislation that would expand the use of Flock cameras and similar ALPRs, believing it can be a tool that can combat crime.
“ALPRs are among the most effective tools available to law enforcement today. These systems capture computer-readable images of license plates and vehicles, allowing police officers to compare plate numbers against databases of stolen vehicles, wanted individuals, and other serious crimes,” the co-sponsorship memo reads for Senate Bill 933.
That bill, introduced last year, has the support of seven Republican senators.
They said their proposal would use this technology “on state-owned infrastructure across the Commonwealth for law enforcement purposes.”
This proposal argues that “PennDOT’s refusal to permit the installation of ALPR systems in the rights-of-way of state-owned roads has left parts of our Commonwealth vulnerable to criminal activity, depriving law enforcement of crucial tools for crime prevention and investigation.”
Shapiro, when discussing this technology on Friday, said that the Pennsylvania State Police does not use Flock cameras.
“We do not allow flock cameras to be on any state property, and the PennDOT, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, does not use them and does not allow it on their roadways,” Shapiro said. “Period.”
The organization says it has been an effective tool for solving crime across the country.
Flock Safety issued a 2025 Impact Census earlier this year that they said found that its technology “supported more than 1 million investigations, assisted in solving 20% of cleared cases, helped locate more than 10,000 missing persons, and contributed significantly to stolen vehicle recoveries across the country.”
Franklin County, according to WHP, recently agreed to end its contract with the company, despite pushback from the county’s sheriff department.
In Shapiro’s hometown, on Thursday, the Abington Township Board of Commissioners in Montgomery County voted on a contract to replace the police department’s Flock Safety surveillance system, 6ABC reports, adding that the local police department says the “new system will put more limits on data sharing.”
While both gubernatorial candidates in Pennsylvania have supported banning Flock cameras, the technology is also being debated in other states.
In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters this week that these cameras were “out of control.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, also recently ordered all state agencies to pause funding for Flock cameras as scrutiny over the AI-powered surveillance devices has mounted, Governing Magazine reports.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, sixteen states have laws that “expressly address” the use of the cameras.
