As automated license plate readers (ALPRs) continue to get approved for use throughout Michigan, concerns from residents and lawmakers about privacy and data sharing persist.
More than 125 cities and counties across the state are using cameras that act as automated license plate readers. They’re primarily operated under Flock Safety, and are popular among local police departments for solving crimes.
Paris Lewbel is a spokesperson for Flock Safety. He said the cameras take pictures of the back of vehicles to help solve cases involving stolen vehicles, burglaries, assaults, and missing people.
Lewbel said that Flock technology does not track vehicles or individuals, but takes a point-in-time image of license plates.
During a January 26 city council meeting, Waterford Township approved an agreement with Flock—despite concerns from residents.
“The hard reality is that yes, the tools that Flock provides are useful for catching criminals and without them it will indeed make your jobs more difficult,” resident Drew Marchewski said. “However, there can be no shortcut to justice when that path tramples over our rights and civil liberties.”
Marchewski voiced concern about Flock operating unregulated.
Resident Haley Smith emphasized the importance of personal privacy.
“Surely a few traffic violations isn't worth risking innocent lives in chaos when we could hire more police and solve the problem instead of feeding corporate greed,” she said.
Police Chief Scott Underwood said during the meeting that much of the discussion is misinformed.
“The only thing that LPRs collect is images, images of vehicles and license plates that are purged after 30 days,” he said. “There is no registration information or personal information connected to those images.”
Lewbel, the Flock spokesperson, said no outside agency can access data collected from another agency’s cameras unless that agency explicitly chooses to share it. “Flock does not have any contracts with ICE or any sub-agency of the Department of Homeland Security,” he added.
A report from 404 Media found that some local law enforcement agencies have used Flock’s ALPR system to perform searches for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, among other federal agencies.
But Underwood emphasized that their department does not make queries on behalf of any other agencies. And Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said his agency is not sharing data with ICE.
Similarly, Oakland County Undersheriff Tim Willis shared at a March 24 Pontiac City Council meeting that their department does not participate in any agreement with ICE.
“I don't want people who are victims of crimes not coming forward to the police because they're afraid,” he said.
Willis said the data obtained by their Flock Safety camera system is owned by the sheriff’s department, and said they haven’t received a request by ICE to disclose such data.
“If it's an immigration status offense that involved a crime, we would handle that locally,” Willis said. “That wouldn't be something we would turn over to ICE.”
But privacy concerns among residents and advocacy groups remain. In some cases, city officials across the country found that federal agencies, including ICE and Border Patrol, had searched their data without their knowledge at the time.
A bipartisan bill package introduced by Michigan Reps. Jimmie Wilson Jr. (D-Ypsilanti) and Doug Wozniak (R-Shelby Township) is looking to address those concerns by regulating the ALPR system and its data. Bills 5493 and 5492 would set limits on how the collected surveillance data is stored.
