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More Michigan communities abandon Flock license plate cameras.
MILFORD — The city of South Lyon and the village of Milford in western Oakland County recently joined a growing list of Michigan communities that have decided to stop using Flock license plate surveillance cameras.
Milford Village Council members voted unanimously on Monday to end their contracts with Flock Safety at the request of village Police Chief Scott Tarasiewicz. Although he praised license plate reader systems as an effective tool in criminal investigations, Tarasiewicz said Flock had failed to provide adequate customer service to the Police Department.
In late September, the South Lyon City Council voted to cover its cameras with bags and withdraw from its existing contract with the company.
Earlier this year, Westland, Ferndale, Novi, West Bloomfield, Pontiac, Waterford, Independence, St. Clair Shores, Adrian, Sumpter and Frenchtown, along with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, decided to end their contracts with Flock.
Meanwhile, the Warren City Council recently voted 4–3 to extend its $132,000 contract with Flock, despite heated debate among Council members.
Other Michigan cities, including Lansing, are facing growing public pressure to end their contracts with the company.
Flock provides license plate reader technology in 49 U.S. states, including to approximately 180 law enforcement agencies in Michigan alone. The company operates more than 120,000 cameras nationwide, capturing images of passing vehicles and feeding them into a database that police officers can search.
Despite their public safety benefits and their role in solving numerous major crimes in the Detroit area, opposition to the spread of Flock cameras along local roads has grown recently. Residents have expressed increasing concern about their potential misuse to violate privacy and conduct unlawful surveillance in the complete absence of governing laws.
Meanwhile, a former Oakland County sheriff’s deputy has yet to face criminal charges despite conducting dozens of unauthorized searches after his shift ended, looking up license plates associated with immigration matters.
According to investigations, the employee conducted at least 58 immigration-related searches through Flock’s database during February. Oakland County Sheriff’s Office policy permits Flock to be used only to monitor vehicles on law enforcement watchlists, locate suspects in criminal cases or help find missing people.
“Those queries were unauthorized and violate our policy,” said Tyler Sweers, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.
