wchstv.com · September 8, 2026
Lawmakers warn subpoenas possible if Flock fails to provide requested data by Sept. 17
# Lawmakers warn subpoenas possible if Flock fails to provide requested data by Sept. 17
by BAILEE TUCKER
Tue, September 8, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Updated Tue, September 8, 2026 at 5:45 PM
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West Virginia lawmakers are giving Flock Safety until Sept. 17 to provide more detailed answers about the company’s camera technology and security practices, warning they could pursue subpoenas if it does not comply. (WCHS)
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — West Virginia lawmakers are giving Flock Safety until Sept. 17 to provide more detailed answers about the company’s camera technology and security practices, warning they could pursue subpoenas if it does not comply.
Flock responded Sept. 1 to questions raised after its testimony during August legislative interim meetings.
The company said its central cloud environment has never been compromised by an external attacker and defended its security practices, but lawmakers said the response did not address many of their concerns.
“Our question was not whether their database had been breached,” Del. Tristan Leavitt, R-Kanawha, said. “It was about the security of the cameras themselves.”
2026-09-01 Response to WV Legislature PDF preview Preview PDF
Lawmakers are seeking data on unauthorized access, false hot-list alerts, employee access to customer data and data retention policies.
Leavitt said the Legislature has authority to issue subpoenas if Flock does not provide the requested information by the deadline.
“If we get to a situation where the request that we’ve made to answer the questions of our Legislature aren’t answered, then that’s a step we can take,” Leavitt said.
The questions come as some West Virginians push back against the use of Flock’s automated license plate reader cameras. In Huntington, organizers are collecting signatures in an effort to put the city’s use of the cameras before voters.
Kyle Vass, an organizer involved with Get the Flock Out Huntington, said Flock has not adequately addressed public concerns.
“Flock continues to not take seriously the concerns of people, including lawmakers who are trying to hold them to account and trying to have them be transparent about what it is that they do and don’t do with their technologies,” Vass said.
Leavitt said he is not seeking an outright ban on the cameras but questioned whether governments should work with a company that he believes has not been forthcoming.
“It does raise the question when you have a company that is so unwilling to be forthcoming, whether that is somebody that people should be doing business with,” he said.
Others argue lawmakers should have pressed the company more aggressively during its August appearance.
“I think getting reassurance or some clarification on these points where Flock has been lying would have been first and foremost in that meeting rather than just something that they kind of allowed to be brushed off at the time,” Get the Flock Out Huntington's Kelly Coyle said.