Representative Tom Gann is pointing to possible red flags the municipal governments maybe allowing federal and out-of-state law enforcement agencies access to Oklahoma citizens’ information and travel information without a warrant. Gann has previously raised concerns about license plate scanner devices and other “traffic-monitoring” systems. He specifically points out a recent media story concerning the city of Guthrie allowing its FLOCK scanner network to be accessed by other law enforcement agencies.
“All across the state, police departments are allowing FLOCK to add their cities and towns to a growing, nationwide surveillance network,” Gann explained. “I’ve long suspected that access was being shared with federal agencies, but this is the first time I’ve seen proof that this was perpetrated on unwitting citizens. It may be occurring in many other Oklahoma towns as well.”
Gann says the Sooner Sentinel’s open records request found that Guthrie’s scanner devices had been shared with nearly 100 other government agencies, including an out-of-state branch of the ATF.
The Inola Republican’s primary concern is that there are several bills that could be taken up by the Legislature which would authorize the sharing of the surveillance.
“These votes are going to have dramatic privacy implications that will affect generations of future Oklahomans. As legislators, we have a sacred responsibility to hand down to our future generations the freedoms that we were given. We must defeat these measures,” Gann said.
Tom Gann is one of the best in the Oklahoma House of Representatives!