President Donald Trump shared his official take on Flock cameras on Sunday, saying he understands there are concerns about privacy violations, but he still thinks they are more useful than dangerous.
Trump was asked for his thoughts on the AI cameras — which are used by cops to scan license plates and instantly compare them against databases tracking stolen vehicles, Amber alerts, and missing persons reports — while flying back from Ireland on Sunday aboard Air Force One.
“Flock cameras, you haven’t talked a lot about these Flock cameras. A lot of law enforcement say they really help them, would you be willing to back that?” a reporter asked.
“I sort of like ’em because of that, because of law enforcement,” Trump said. “But some people don’t. They think it’s an infringement.”
“They help catch a lot of criminals!” the reporter interjected, before Trump added, “But I like them.”
He then wrapped up his time with reporters, after asking whether they were enjoying him playing Dolly Parton and Elton John on the plane.
Trump’s answer comes after the cameras have been debated a fair amount over the past few months.
Flock CEO Garrett Langley pushed back against the growing criticism of his company during a recent interview on Fox News, arguing concerns about privacy are warranted but fail to take into account how its license plate-reading technology can be used for good.
“I think these are important conversations to have,” he told Saturday in America co-host Kayleigh McEnany.
“I value my privacy… but what we’re talking about is safety as well. And so I think when people talk about just one of these things, privacy or safety, they’re prioritizing the wrong thing. What we have to prioritize as a country is compromise: how do we have our safety, and how do we balance privacy?”
His comment came a moment after McEnany pointed out many Americans are fighting against Flock — including one man who griped at a city council meeting while dressed up as Darth Vader.
She noted there is also a bipartisan focus on the company on Capitol Hill, with Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) pushing for federal tax dollars not to be used to install the cameras and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) calling for an outright ban.
McEnany said the scrutiny from both lawmakers and citizens followed examples of the cameras making “mistakes,” as well as three alleged cases of cops improperly accessing Flock data. On the other hand, she said the company claims it has been used to solve 10,000 missing person cases and helped solve more than 1 million crimes.
Langley said calls to ban the technology are absurd — but he was in favor of more regulation.
“That’s like banning vehicles. That would never have made sense,” Langley said about a ban. “Instead what we did is we introduced laws against drunk driving, laws around airbags.”
Moving forward, he said the company and lawmakers need to nail two key things: data retention, or how long information is allowed to be accessed — he recommend one week — and what happens when officers improperly access data.
Watch Trump in the first clip above via YouTube, and you can watch Langley’s Fox News interview in the second clip.
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