Why Writing Flock Cameras and ALPRs Into South Carolina Law Is a Bad Idea

Have you heard of automatic license plate readers, or ALPRs?

The next time you driving around look up and see if you can spot these cameras.

These cameras are mounted on poles along roads and use AI technology to scan passing vehicles. They collect all kinds of details about your car, including its make, model, color, license plate, location, and other identifying features.

That information is stored and can later be searched by police to find out where a vehicle has been, whether it was near the scene of a crime, its travel patterns, and even which vehicles may be traveling together. Law enforcement agencies can also share this information with other agencies.

Innocent or not, these cameras collect and store information about your movements without a warrant or probable cause.

Now look at how many of these cameras are already operating.

“Flock Safety operates the nation’s largest connected LPR network. By June 2026, Flock said its license-plate-reader network included more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states.”

“Axon is another major ALPR company. Its Fleet 3 system turns police vehicles into moving license-plate readers, continuously scanning plates while officers drive. Axon’s Fusus platform can also combine ALPR data from Axon systems with Flock and other third-party cameras into one searchable system.”

And yes, this is already in South Carolina.

“As of September 10, 2026, 1,316 ALPR cameras had been documented in South Carolina, including 1,215 identified as Flock Safety cameras. Because the database relies on cameras mapped by volunteers, the actual number installed could be higher.”

South Carolina legislators have even approved state funding for additional Flock surveillance technology.

How did this happen? How did South Carolina end up with mass-surveillance cameras operating all across the state?

Answer: Law-enforcement agencies have relied on their existing powers to purchase and deploy ALPRs, and state legislators have been quick to approve funding for them.

People Aren’t Thrilled

The resulting public backlash has caught the attention of SC legislators, prompting a rush to introduce legislation intended to rein in the technology. They attempted to pass ALPR legislation last session, and they’ll do it again next session.

Be on the lookout for a bill called the Citizens Digital Bill of Rights or some other name that gives you that cozy feeling that your privacy will be protected.

Wait a second, isn’t the purpose of law to protect individual rights and restrain the government from violating those rights? So how does a bill protect privacy if it also allows the government to invade it?

Intent Doesn’t Control What Eventually Becomes Law

Sure, some legislators will act with good intentions. In fact, a bill may even contain a lot of protective language, such as limits on how long the information can be stored, audit requirements, and penalties for misuse. S.447 even proposed a permitting process that put SCDOT in charge of approving where some of these cameras could go. Makes sense. Our roads are falling apart, so naturally someone thought, “SCDOT is doing a bang-up job. Let’s give them something else to manage.”

Stop the madness and read this.

Good intentions mean nothing once a bill starts moving through the legislative sausage-making factory. Mystery meat is gonna get added, and those amendments aren’t something people are going to enjoy eating. Yuck.

As a bill winds its way through committee hearings and floor debates, other legislators inevitably get their turn to ruin it. Once the amendments start flying, guess who gets a say? Industry lobbyists, law enforcement, the companies behind the technology, and the “experts.”

Input on these amendments won’t be coming from the average South Carolinian being tracked from Point A to Point B, with every turn becoming another searchable data point.

After all the amendments have gutted the bill’s original intent, what finally emerges as law will be unrecognizable, with those strong privacy protections diluted.

The Exceptions

Any bill proposing to control the use of ALPR will also include exceptions for who can use them and how.

Exceptions are parts of a law that exempt certain people or actions from what the law otherwise prohibits or requires. 

We already saw an example of exceptions in bill S.447 during the 2025-2026 legislative session. Take a minute to read the summary of the bill and see if you can find the exceptions.

Did you spot them?

The details of these exceptions are:

Notice how broad some of those exceptions are. What exactly falls under “other law enforcement or criminal justice purposes” or “promote public safety”?

Did you catch the parking exception? Do you think that opens the door to a lot of enforcement and revenue?

Are these exceptions going to strengthen the guardrails in the bill or weaken them? 

What About Human Nature

Last we checked, state employees are still human. For now, anyway. Humans make mistakes, and some will be tempted to misuse the information collected. How exactly do you stop that from spiraling out of control?

Want proof? Do an internet search and type in “Flock camera misuse.” You won’t have to look very hard.

• Amid growing scrutiny, Atlanta police look to root out Flock misuse

• 3 Gwinnett County police officers fired, arrested in investigation into Flock camera misuse

• How rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalking

• Savannah Police Department fires 6 employees over Flock Safety System misuse

These are just a few of the many articles that popped up in our search. Keep in mind, these articles concern people who got caught. How many haven't been caught, and how many people haven’t been held accountable? 

If there’s one thing government doesn’t exactly have a stellar record on, it’s holding its own people accountable.

Today's Exceptions Will Be Expanded Tomorrow

The legislators who pass these types of laws won't control the South Carolina government forever.

Once the General Assembly codifies an ALPR framework, future legislators inherit the structure, and over time they will keep adding to it.

Why encourage them to build that foundation?

South Carolina Has Constitutional Privacy Protections

Article I, Section 10 of the South Carolina Constitution protects South Carolinians against unreasonable searches, seizures, and “unreasonable invasions of privacy,” while the Fourth Amendment adds the federal constitutional protection.

So why isn’t this enough? How about we call the use of these cameras what they are: unreasonable invasions of privacy.

The Point of This Article is Simple

A bill that creates a statewide legal framework for ALPR surveillance is a bad idea, no matter how legislators frame it as responsible regulation or privacy protection.

Why would you want another layer of law that will make it harder to demand that your county take these intrusive cameras down?

For instance, look at what happened in Oconee County. Citizens pushed back locally, and the county is now moving to shut the cameras down. The sheriff even said, “My council doesn’t want them, so we’re going to do away with them.” Now imagine trying to do that after the General Assembly expressly writes their use into state law. Think that fight will get easier?

So, before SC legislators even consider filing a bill that locks the use of this surveillance technology into state law, they should, at a bare minimum, be asking and answering the following 10 questions:

1. What exactly is missing from current law and constitutional protections that warrants another law?

2. Which law isn't being enforced?

3. What problem will this proposed bill solve, and what will it enable?

4. What measurable public-safety benefit justifies collecting and storing information about the movements of people who aren't suspected of committing a crime?

5. Could this proposed bill block local communities from saying, "No thanks," and taking the cameras down?

6. What happens to these protections if this bill gets amended once it's filed?

7. If this bill becomes law, how could future legislators expand it?

8. Does this bill's language mirror or borrow from model legislation pushed by industry groups or out-of-state advocacy organizations?

9. Has the legislator filing the bill actually read and understood every word of it, including every definition, exception, and cross-reference?

10. Has the legislator presented the draft bill to district constituents and gotten their feedback on whether they support or oppose it?

The burden of proof should remain with the government to justify why it needs to track innocent citizens. South Carolinians should preserve their ability to demand that these cameras be taken down without first having to repeal a bad law.

If a legislator files a bill anyway, read it and start looking for the problems. Zone in on the exceptions. Find out exactly who will be allowed to use the information collected and for what purposes. Use our Tip to Reading a Bill article to help understand the dangers in the bill.

And Be Ready for the Sales Pitch

You’ll hear legislators say things like:

“We need common-sense limits.”

“We need guardrails.”

“We can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

“This is about public safety.”

“We need a Digital Bill of Rights.”

Those phrases are meant to convince you to support the bill without questioning what is actually being proposed. Don’t get distracted by these slogans. 

Once this framework is written into law, removing it or stopping it from growing becomes a harder fight.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not constitute legal or professional advice. ConservaTruth assumes no liability for any actions taken based on this content. Read more.

Subscribe to ConservaTruth's Email Newsletter for curated insights on South Carolina's legislative activities and conservative viewpoints, delivered straight to your inbox! With vetted and easy-to-understand information, our newsletter empowers you to become an informed and engaged citizen, actively participating in safeguarding our cherished Constitutional values. Don’t miss out on crucial updates—join our community of informed conservatives today!​