On September 23, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism convenes under the title “Always Watching: Flock’s Nationwide AI Surveillance Network.”[1] Four CEOs are invited: Garrett Langley (Flock Safety), Rick Smith (Axon Enterprise), Greg Brown (Motorola Solutions), Filip Kaliszan (Verkada).[1][4]

Verkada declined. Spokesperson: “none of our customers can search a national Verkada network – because none exists. Our customers can only access the data in their own systems.”[1] Flock, Axon, and Motorola had not responded as of September 21.[1][3]

The question any LATAM procurement officer should be asking: what will each vendor produce under an equivalent transparency request?

Hawley’s September 2 letter to Verkada — ten interrogatories[3] — already contains the architectural questions. Four of them map 1:1 onto your RFP:

  1. Default statewide/nationwide search. Can your customer run a statewide or nationwide plate query? Is that enabled by default, or does it require explicit configuration?
  2. Retention and disposition. Default period per data category. Every change since 2021. What happens to backups when the contract terminates.
  3. Measured accuracy and false-positive rate. A Florida woman spent 13 days in jail and faced 8 felony charges because of a Flock false positive.[3][5] A California police department found 71% of Flock alerts were wrong.[3][6]
  4. What the device captures beyond plates. Stills, video, audio, wireless signals, biometric identifiers. Date capture began for each. Whether the customer can opt out per category.

These questions aren’t new — Hawley already asked them. What changes on September 23 is that the CEO will answer them live, on camera, before a U.S. Senate subcommittee. Before you sign anything, read the transcript and compare what your vendor told you in writing.

P.D. How many of these four architectural questions are already in your active RFP — and how many would a LATAM procurement officer have to put in writing for the first time this week?

📰 Sources: The Hill (Sep 18, 2026) + Hawley Senate (Sep 2, 2026 letter + Sep 21 hearing announcement) + KTTN (Sep 21, 2026).

Sources

[1] The Hill — Hawley invites Flock, Axon, other surveillance tech CEOs to testify (Sep 18, 2026, Mira Bhakta) — https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/6099368-hawley-invites-flock-ai-surveillance-ceos/ [2] Hawley Senate — Hawley Expands Investigation into Surveillance Cameras, Warns Flock Competitors — https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-expands-investigation-into-surveillance-cameras-warns-flock-competitors/ [3] Hawley Senate Judiciary Subcommittee letter to Verkada CEO Filip Kaliszan (Sep 2, 2026, PDF) — https://www.hawley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2026-09-02-Verkada-ALPR-Letter.pdf [4] KTTN — Hawley expands AI surveillance inquiry with hearing for four CEOs (Sep 21, 2026) — https://www.kttn.com/hawley-expands-ai-surveillance-inquiry-with-hearing-for-four-ceos/ [5] Flock Safety blog — The Price of Free LPR — https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/the-price-of-free-lpr