Michigan civil rights activists raising concerns about misuse of license plate readers, Ring cameras

DETROIT – Civil rights advocates in Michigan warn that surveillance technologies meant for crime prevention and safety are increasingly being used to track communities of color and immigrants, raising serious concerns about misuse.
Flock Safety, a company providing license plate reader cameras often used by police, recently announced a partnership with Ring, the popular home security camera company.
What does this mean?
Essentially, law enforcement can send a Community Request for footage to users for active investigations through the Neighbors App.
Recently, CAIR-MI sounded the alarm.
“We have a large concern about the mass surveillance of people in general, but we also have a significant concern about the over surveillance of Muslims, which has been happening since 2001,” said Amy V. Doukoure, lead staff attorney at CAIR-Michigan.
The home security company told Local 4 the integration it announced last October is not live yet, therefore Flock does not have access to Community Requests.