Federal Judge Rules Warrantless Flock License Plate Search Unconstitutional

A federal judge in Oklahoma has ruled that a deputy sheriff violated a woman's Fourth Amendment rights by using Flock Safety technology to search for her license plate without a warrant, The Hill and TechCrunch reported. The decision was issued by Judge Sara Hill in Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to TechCrunch and FTMQ News archive records. [1][2][8]

TechCrunch, 404 Media, and Law Commentary reported that Judge Hill characterized the warrantless use of the Flock database as indiscriminate mass surveillance. The Hill noted that searches using artificial intelligence powered surveillance camera data may violate constitutional protections without adequate probable cause. [1][2][4][6]

Flock Safety is a privately held American company founded in 2017 that manufactures automated license plate recognition hardware and software. By July 2026, the company reported operating in more than 6,000 communities across 49 United States and performing over 20 billion vehicle scans each month. [7]

As FTMQ News reported earlier, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders have introduced a bill to ban federal license plate readers. TechCrunch noted that while Judge Hill's ruling does not set a binding precedent, it marks one of the first times a federal court has declared a Flock search unconstitutional. [2][3][8]