President Trump appears to be siding with law enforcement in the heated national debate over Flock Safety cameras, telling reporters aboard Air Force One this weekend that he’s a fan of the AI-powered surveillance tool that’s been drawing fire from both sides of the political aisle.
Speaking to the press Sunday en route to Joint Base Andrews, Trump gave a simple, direct answer when asked about the cameras: “I like them.”
The question came after a reporter noted that Trump hadn’t said much publicly about the Flock camera system, despite many in law enforcement praising its effectiveness. When asked point-blank if he’d be willing to back the technology, Trump didn’t hesitate to explain his reasoning, tying his support directly to the men and women on the front lines of fighting crime.
“Yeah, I sort of like them because of that, because of law enforcement,” Trump said, though he acknowledged the controversy swirling around the cameras. “But some people don’t; they think it’s an infringement.”
When the reporter pointed out that the cameras “help catch a lot of criminals,” Trump reaffirmed his stance once more: “I like them.”
The comments mark a shift from where Trump stood back in August. When Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese asked him directly about Flock cameras, Trump said he was still weighing his options, noting the issue was “being studied right now” and that there were clear “pros and cons” to consider before making a final call.
The White House has not yet responded to a request for comment on the president’s remarks.
Flock’s network, which reportedly includes more than 120,000 cameras across the country, has become a lightning rod thanks to its use of Automated License Plate Readers, technology capable of handing drivers’ personal information over to police without a warrant. That’s sparked unusual bipartisan concern on Capitol Hill.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, opened an investigation last month into how Flock’s massive camera network handles the data it collects. Hawley cited a case in his home state where a police department was forced to cut ties with Flock after an audit found a civilian employee had misused the system for personal searches unrelated to any investigation. He also flagged an alarming case out of Milwaukee, where prosecutors charged an officer accused of improperly searching an ex-girlfriend’s plate over a hundred times, a scheme only uncovered because a private citizen stumbled onto it through a public website.
On the left, independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has been equally vocal, warning on social media that unchecked AI surveillance risks sliding the country toward “totalitarianism” and vowing to introduce legislation aimed at reining in the technology.
Frustration with the cameras hasn’t stayed confined to Washington, either. Reports out of Minnesota, Ohio, Texas and North Carolina describe Flock cameras being vandalized or destroyed by residents pushing back against the surveillance network in their communities, a sign the fight over Flock is far from settled, in Washington or anywhere else.
