A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on cell phone location data is raising new questions about how police departments across Kentucky can use automated license plate readers, particularly those made by Flock Safety.

The discussion centers on a landmark Supreme Court ruling from 2018 that requires law enforcement to obtain warrants before accessing cell phone location data, according to an op-ed in the Kentucky Lantern from Caleb Brown, chief executive of the libertarian think tank The Bluegrass Institute, and attorney Dan Canon.

In the case known as Carpenter v. United States, the Supreme Court held that government access to location data—even for short periods and even when obtained from private companies—constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment and requires judicial oversight. Brown argues that the reasoning extends to Flock cameras, which track vehicles as they move through cities.

"How different is tracking someone's car as it moves through a city from tracking their cell phone, frankly," Brown asked, noting that most people spend the vast majority of their time within a few hundred yards of their vehicles.

Kentucky lawmakers questioned a Flock representative in early September about the cameras' use. Police departments across the state defend Flock systems as useful crime-fighting tools, pointing to arrests in high-profile cases, but concerns about misuse have mounted.

The debate reflects a broader tension between public safety and privacy rights. Louisville police have disciplined officers for improper Flock searches, and a Shively officer was arrested for using license plate readers to track a woman.

Hundreds of Flock cameras operate in Louisville, with systems also deployed in Lexington, Elizabethtown and surrounding areas. Kentucky passed legislation this year that caps data retention at 90 days and requires written police policies on camera use, but Brown argues more protections are necessary.

"If we don't put guardrails on the ability of people to access this information, we've given up privacy almost entirely," Brown said.