Our Founding Fathers saw first-hand what happens when the government over-steps their power and treats their citizens as guilty before being proved innocent. During the years leading up to the Declaration of Independence, British rule prohibited searches without warrants, but these warrants were general and did not require probable cause.
When the delegates gathered, they ensured citizens would be protected from governments who over-step their role and use their power to control rather than support.
The 4th Amendment of the US Constitution says, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” James Madison included the phrase “and their other property” in his draft, but it was removed during the voting process.
In Tennessee, our state founders recognized a weakness in the federal article, and made sure to protect Tennessean’s “possessions”.
Article I, Section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution says, “That the people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions, from unreasonable searches and seizures; and that general warrants, whereby an officer may be commanded to search suspected places, without evidence of the fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, whose offences are not particularly described and supported by evidence, are dangerous to liberty and ought not be granted.”
The citizens of the United States and the residents of Tennessee are assured through both documents that we are to be protected from warrantless searches by our government. Flock cameras are in direct violation to these protections.
In 2013, Tennessee began implementing automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, with the stated purpose to find stolen vehicles.
By 2020, these cameras had exponentially increased across the state. The focus on strengthening local police departments and investing in cloud-data management set the stage for a perfect storm. Social movements like Defund the Police and Black Lives Matter mixed with the fear from Covid propelled our state into using cameras as a tool to “protect” citizens from the impending chaos that surrounded us.
Now, in 2026, almost every county in our state uses these Automated License Plate Readers to capture images of our license plates while driving.
Flock Cameras are a specific brand of Automated License Plate Readers. They were originally created to give neighborhood associations an alternative to the low-quality cameras most were using at the time. In 2017, these cameras became available, which use both solar and LTE (4G towers) to operate.
The quality images these cameras produce quickly caught the eye of local governments, who began contracting with the private company in order to take better pictures of the license plates they were capturing.
Because these cameras use LTE technology, the pictures they take are automatically uploaded to a cloud system, where local government agencies can, in real time, connect data points across county and even state lines.
What’s important to understand about Flock cameras, is that they not only take your license plate data, but they also document the make, model and color of your car, and any bumper stickers or noticeable markings. All of this is stored in a cloud based system that in Tennessee, you do not have access to without filing a formal request in a county with a Sheriff who is open to transparency.
This data is stored locally, but it is also shared to other police departments across the state and country.
According to current Tennessee state law, local governments can store your data for no more than 90 days unless the data is needed in a criminal investigation.
The argument could be made that this system of data collection assumes we are all guilty before being proved innocent, which is exactly what the 4th Amendment and the Tennessee Constitution seek to protect against.
Flock Cameras and Automated License Plate Readers are only the beginning. Not only do how they function stand directly against our US and State Constitutions, they lay the groundwork for what’s happening in other states already.
SignalTrace has been contracted by several states, including New York, Texas and Maryland, is a tool created by a corporation called Leonardo, another License Plate Reader corporation, headquartered in Greensboro, South Carolina.
Here’s what it does…
“As the devices emit signals, SignalTrace sites capture and correlate them together, along with LPR data if present. The data collected shows what group of devices are travelling together. Algorithms can determine which specific mix of devices are predictably moving together. That specific mix of devices—linked by common time stamps and locations—are described as an electronic fingerprint and can help develop leads that aid investigations.
For example: while 70 cars in 100 may contain iPhones, only one will have an iPhone 13rev2, an Audi radio, a pair of Bose headphones, a Garmin sports watch, a key finder, and the license plate ABC-1234. The collection of data represented by these specific things is an electronic signature.”
Leonardo, who owns SignalTrace, has a PAC. This PAC has given to Congressman Scott DesJarlais twice since January of this year.
They have a financial footprint in our state, it’s only a matter of time.
Representative Jason Zachary promised at a meeting this week that he would bring legislation to regulate the use of these cameras. Do they need to be regulated or do they need to be banned?
The good news is that people across Tennessee are educating themselves about these surveillance methods. When we are educated, we are able to stand for our rights and fight locally.
Remember, our state General Assembly had the opportunity to prohibit these cameras, and all others like them, but the bill never even made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
As your Representatives are out on the campaign trail this fall, be sure to ask them where they stand on this type of surveillance and how they plan to vote in the next General Assembly. If they tell you they will support legislation to ban them, write it down, document it, and be prepared to remind them when the vote comes across their desk.
Resources:
https://www.leonardocompany-us.com/lpr
https://www.flocksafety.com/
https://deflock.org/
The Constitution, Flock Cameras and the Future of Tennessee
Our Founding Fathers saw first-hand what happens when the government over-steps their power and treats their citizens as guilty before being proved innocent. During the years leading up to the Declaration of Independence, British rule prohibited searches without warrants, but these warrants were general and did not require probable cause.
When the delegates gathered, they ensured citizens would be protected from governments who over-step their role and use their power to control rather than support.
The 4th Amendment of the US Constitution says, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” James Madison included the phrase “and their other property” in his draft, but it was removed during the voting process.
In Tennessee, our state founders recognized a weakness in the federal article, and made sure to protect Tennessean’s “possessions”.
Article I, Section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution says, “That the people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions, from unreasonable searches and seizures; and that general warrants, whereby an officer may be commanded to search suspected places, without evidence of the fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, whose offences are not particularly described and supported by evidence, are dangerous to liberty and ought not be granted.”
The citizens of the United States and the residents of Tennessee are assured through both documents that we are to be protected from warrantless searches by our government. Flock cameras are in direct violation to these protections.
In 2013, Tennessee began implementing automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, with the stated purpose to find stolen vehicles.
By 2020, these cameras had exponentially increased across the state. The focus on strengthening local police departments and investing in cloud-data management set the stage for a perfect storm. Social movements like Defund the Police and Black Lives Matter mixed with the fear from Covid propelled our state into using cameras as a tool to “protect” citizens from the impending chaos that surrounded us.
Now, in 2026, almost every county in our state uses these Automated License Plate Readers to capture images of our license plates while driving.
Flock Cameras are a specific brand of Automated License Plate Readers. They were originally created to give neighborhood associations an alternative to the low-quality cameras most were using at the time. In 2017, these cameras became available, which use both solar and LTE (4G towers) to operate.
The quality images these cameras produce quickly caught the eye of local governments, who began contracting with the private company in order to take better pictures of the license plates they were capturing.
Because these cameras use LTE technology, the pictures they take are automatically uploaded to a cloud system, where local government agencies can, in real time, connect data points across county and even state lines.
What’s important to understand about Flock cameras, is that they not only take your license plate data, but they also document the make, model and color of your car, and any bumper stickers or noticeable markings. All of this is stored in a cloud based system that in Tennessee, you do not have access to without filing a formal request in a county with a Sheriff who is open to transparency.
This data is stored locally, but it is also shared to other police departments across the state and country.
According to current Tennessee state law, local governments can store your data for no more than 90 days unless the data is needed in a criminal investigation.
The argument could be made that this system of data collection assumes we are all guilty before being proved innocent, which is exactly what the 4th Amendment and the Tennessee Constitution seek to protect against.
Flock Cameras and Automated License Plate Readers are only the beginning. Not only do how they function stand directly against our US and State Constitutions, they lay the groundwork for what’s happening in other states already.
SignalTrace has been contracted by several states, including New York, Texas and Maryland, is a tool created by a corporation called Leonardo, another License Plate Reader corporation, headquartered in Greensboro, South Carolina.
Here’s what it does…
“As the devices emit signals, SignalTrace sites capture and correlate them together, along with LPR data if present. The data collected shows what group of devices are travelling together. Algorithms can determine which specific mix of devices are predictably moving together. That specific mix of devices—linked by common time stamps and locations—are described as an electronic fingerprint and can help develop leads that aid investigations.
For example: while 70 cars in 100 may contain iPhones, only one will have an iPhone 13rev2, an Audi radio, a pair of Bose headphones, a Garmin sports watch, a key finder, and the license plate ABC-1234. The collection of data represented by these specific things is an electronic signature.”
Leonardo, who owns SignalTrace, has a PAC. This PAC has given to Congressman Scott DesJarlais twice since January of this year.
They have a financial footprint in our state, it’s only a matter of time.
Representative Jason Zachary promised at a meeting this week that he would bring legislation to regulate the use of these cameras. Do they need to be regulated or do they need to be banned?
The good news is that people across Tennessee are educating themselves about these surveillance methods. When we are educated, we are able to stand for our rights and fight locally.
Remember, our state General Assembly had the opportunity to prohibit these cameras, and all others like them, but the bill never even made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
As your Representatives are out on the campaign trail this fall, be sure to ask them where they stand on this type of surveillance and how they plan to vote in the next General Assembly. If they tell you they will support legislation to ban them, write it down, document it, and be prepared to remind them when the vote comes across their desk.
Resources:
https://www.leonardocompany-us.com/lpr
https://www.flocksafety.com/
https://deflock.org/
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Anne Lowery
Anne Lowery