Scott Galloway Calls Bernie Sanders and AOC's Flock Camera Ban a 'Bad Idea'

Scott Galloway, co-host of Raging Moderates, broke with Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over their bill to cut federal ties to automated license-plate readers. He called the measure a blunt instrument that would push crime back up.

The Ban Flock Act, which Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley introduced on Friday, is named for Flock Safety, the country's largest license-plate-reader vendor. The company has more than 120,000 cameras nationwide that scan 20 billion vehicles a month, according to the sponsors.

"I think as usual, when the far left and the far right agree on anything... it's a really bad idea," Galloway said on Monday's episode.

What the Ban Flock Act Would Do

The bill would bar federal agencies from using license-plate readers or accessing the data they capture. It would also block federal grant money to state and local governments that use the cameras or contract with the companies that sell them, and it would let Americans sue the federal government over its use, Merkley's office said. The grant cutoff would reach programs at five federal departments, including the Justice Department and Homeland Security, starting in the first fiscal year after the bill becomes law, TechCrunch reported.

Galloway wants the cameras regulated instead. "I think there should be laws that say it can't be used for potential misdemeanors," he said. In a kidnapping or a murder, he said, "let's use flock like crazy." He added that "anything that results in the tracking of private citizens, like this guy was doing tracking his girlfriend, is a crime in itself and you might end up in jail."

That puts him close to Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who has proposed a Stop Flock Abuse Act. Hawley's bill does not ban the technology. It would require driver data to be deleted after 10 days unless it is tied to an active investigation, bar local governments from selling the data, require written approval and audit logs for searches, and ban facial recognition, CBS News reported.

Galloway's Crime Claim

Galloway's strongest claim was that Flock explains the national drop in crime. "Why do you think nationwide crime is plummeting? Flock cameras," he said, adding that "not credit these technologies with a massive decrease in crime, it's just not to be honest about what's going on here."

That is his view, and the evidence does not show it. Crime is falling fast: FBI data for 2025 showed the murder rate down 18.1 percent and motor vehicle theft down 22.7 percent from 2024. CBS News reported that experts pointed to technology that keeps people indoors, less alcohol abuse, better police data-sharing and community violence intervention programs. They also cited a surge in pandemic-era overdose deaths and murders, along with the detention and deportation of people with criminal records, which together left tens of thousands fewer high-risk people on the streets. Adam Gelb, CEO of the Council on Criminal Justice, cautioned against giving credit to any one leader, party, policy or program, and called the cause of the homicide drop unclear. Rates fell in cities with very different strategies.

Jessica Tarlov's Privacy Concerns

Tarlov, Galloway's co-host, mostly agreed with him. "I generally agree with you just throwing into the mix that Flock also has big privacy issues and hacking vulnerabilities," she said. She said the backlash grew from "reports that the police officers were using the technology to track women instead of to track criminals."

Those cases are documented. A former Milwaukee officer pleaded guilty to misconduct after searching for his then-partner and her ex 179 times, TechCrunch reported.

Tarlov also said "an Oklahoma court actually upheld that it probably violated the Fourth Amendment." Last week, U.S. District Judge Sara Hill of the Northern District of Oklahoma ruled that an officer's warrantless Flock search, run because a driver had California plates, was unconstitutional, 404 Media reported. Hill called the network "a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance" and suppressed 91 pounds of methamphetamine found in the car. The ruling does not bind other courts.

What Happens Next

Tarlov called the Sanders bill "pretty heavy handed, which is definitely Bernie Sanders' style." She suggested its sponsors would "as big of a swing as possible, hoping that we get somewhere normal in its wake."

With the Ban Flock Act introduced and Hawley's narrower proposal on the table, the open question is whether Congress lands where Galloway and Hawley already are, with the cameras kept and their use restricted.