APPLETON, Wis. – The City of Appleton is ending its use of the Flock camera system, citing concerns over its underlying system integrity.
Flock first started operating its cameras in the northeast Wisconsin city under a pilot program in 2022 before being fully implemented in 2023. But now the cameras are being phased out following community feedback and internal concerns over data privacy related to automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology.
In a news release announcing the change, Mayor Jake Woodford said while Flock has served a role in solving several criminal cases, system integrity concerns “have eroded our trust”. The Mayor left open the window to a separate ALPR being used, calling the technology “an important capability to maintain for our community”.
It comes after a similar situation in nearby Oshkosh, where the Common Council ended its agreement with Flock after Police Chief Dean Smith said a representative lied about collecting traveler’s heat maps during a council meeting April 21 discussing a potential two-year, $163,500 renewal of the City’s agreement with Flock.
When asked by Alderman Brad Spanbauer if Flock creates heat maps of vehicle movements, the representative said that was not available. The council then voted 5-2 to renew the deal. But the following day during a special meeting, Smith said his staff informed him that Flock did in fact capture heat maps, which he then claimed to have visually confirmed.
“Because of this misrepresentation, specifically to a question asked by a council member, I can no longer recommend Flock,” said Smith at the start of the meeting.
Sturgeon Bay also discontinued Flock use in April, citing concerns from the public over privacy.
In Milwaukee, former police officer Josue Ayala is accused of using the department’s Flock system to check on the whereabouts of two people for personal reasons. Prosecutors allege the victims learned of this by checking the website haveibeenflocked.com, claiming an audit trial run showed Ayala had ran their two license plates a combined 179 times. Ayala resigned from the department and pled not guilty to attempted misconduct in public office; he is due in court for a plea/sentencing hearing June 11.
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Following the allegations, MPD implemented a new audit system which flags unusual patterns such as license plates that are searched most frequently. The department revoked access to the Flock data for most officers in February, expect for the Criminal Investigations Bureau, and now requires captains to sign off on officers’ requests to use the database.
Flock has repeatedly defended its ALPR technology, citing safeguards it says are in place to prevent misuse of license plate readers; the company rolled out its Audit Assistance tool in April, which it says “is designed to “continuously monitors system activity and surfaces search patterns that fall outside an agency’s typical usage”.
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