Who is watching Mid-Michigan? Inside the use of Flock license plate readers
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LANSING, Mich. — Automatic license plate readers have been surveilling Mid-Michigan roads for years, and a review of how the technology is used by the region’s two largest city police departments shows differences in policy, oversight and public trust.
The cameras, made by Flock Safety, are mounted on utility poles, street lamps and traffic lights. They are subtle enough that most drivers would not give them a second glance, but they scan nearly every car that passes by.
Flock cameras are in use in 50 Michigan counties.
Customers include private businesses and law enforcement agencies, including the Lansing and Jackson police departments.
Both departments say their goal is to solve crime faster.
How the technology works
The camera captures an image of a passing car. That image uploads to a searchable database.
Officers can then search by plate, vehicle type, or an identifier like a cracked windshield.
Lansing Police Chief Rob Backus said his officers use Flock data to find missing people, track down traffickers and catch thieves.
“We’re always looking for what that next component of our investigations is going to be. So as we saw license plate readers start to be more advanced and more applicable to investigations, we definitely looked into that,” Backus said.
“This is almost like a needle in a haystack,” Backus told News 10 Investigates. “We need to connect it to a person. We need to connect it to a location. That’s how we’re going to make progress in solving these crimes.”
Jackson Police Chief Chris Simpson said the technology saves time during investigations.
“Instead of relying or trying to comb through hours and hours of video of a potential vehicle suspect, it’s at our fingertips real fast, real quick,” he said.
Flock cameras are in use in 50 Michigan counties.(wilx)
Opposition organizes locally and nationally
Not everyone is convinced the trade-off is worth it.
People across the U.S. are organizing in opposition to automatic license plate readers, calling for communities to “deflock.”
John Warmb leads one of those groups in Lansing.
“Our goal is to pressure the city to drop their contract that they have with Flock Safety, immediately remove the infrastructure that is present around our city,” Warmb said.
Warmb said concerns center on overreach and the possibility of innocent people getting caught up in searches.
“I think us, like many communities out there, have noticed a quiet proliferation of these cameras and are feeling really troubled by the lack of transparency from our elected officials,” Warmb said.
Policy differences between Lansing and Jackson
A review of Flock policies and contracts in both cities found differences in oversight.
Lansing’s policy, written a decade before the city signed with Flock, allows 90 days of data storage. However, the department says it actually keeps information for 30 days — until recently, the same Flock-recommended standard Jackson followed.
Flock recently overhauled its privacy and security police, decreasing its recommended data retention period from 30 days to one week. It’s existing customers are not required to adopt the new recommendation.
The policies also differ on oversight. Lansing reviews its audit logs every quarter, while Jackson’s policy calls for audits “on a regular basis.”
Jackson’s policy on automatic license plate readers states officers do not need reasonable suspicion or probable cause to run a search and lists electronic surveillance as an authorized use.
Chief Simpson says the cameras are not for mass surveillance.
“These Flock cameras at the Jackson Police Department are not used in that manner of mass surveillance,” Simpson said. “It is used for an investigative purpose with criminal intent or criminal behavior behind it.”
Lansing’s policy includes a list of authorized reasons to search, including “other official and ongoing investigative purposes.”
Cases of misuse reported nationwide
As cases of misuse surface nationwide, resistance from privacy advocates in Mid-Michigan has grown.
Kyle Zawacki, with the ACLU of Michigan, said the state must regulate the technology.
“There’s 83 counties, there’s thousands of cities and townships and municipalities in the state of Michigan,” Zawacki said. “You could have thousands of different policies on how your data is being used that you have no idea anything about.”
Flock cameras are in use in 50 Michigan counties.(wilx)
Concerns over federal access
That lack of regulatory unity has spurred public concern about departments giving the federal government access to their data.
Backus said Flock does not allow federal agencies to access the system.
“There’s concerns about reproductive health and about immigration. That’s not something that’s allowable under this system,” Backus said.
Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley echoed that policy point, but told News 10’s NBC affiliate WDIV that Flock customers decide what to do with their data.
“I was with an elected official earlier today in Michigan, and she said, you know, when did you guys add facial recognition? And I said, ma’am, we don’t do facial recognition. She said, but do you sell the data? I said, we don’t sell the data. We don’t own the data. Our customers do. We don’t work with ICE. The customer chooses who to share the data with,” Langley said.
Some Michigan communities have dropped Flock
Pressure from the public is changing minds in some parts of the state.
Westland, Ferndale and Menominee have all dissolved their Flock contracts.
Despite the pushback, both mid-Michigan chiefs say they are not losing sight of who the technology is supposed to serve.
“Representing victims is a motivational factor for the reason why many people get into law enforcement,” Backus said. “They know that the victims of our crimes, they don’t have a voice in a lot of cases. Their voice is through the police department.”
“Citizens here in Jackson or Lansing, and they hear of an incident that happens in Florida, California, Missouri — it doesn’t matter where — they’re going to have some curiosity,” Simpson said. “So, I certainly understand the concern. And I still go back to proper governance, proper policy, and an implementation of audits within the entire system.”
No state law currently regulates the technology
For many people, policy promises are not enough without a law behind them. That law does not currently exist in Michigan.
Two bills that would regulate license plate readers are in a Michigan House committee.
A similar bill has been introduced in the state Senate. Lawmakers have a few months left in the current legislative session to pass them.
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