The City of Appleton has asked Flock Safety to verify that the company’s 20 surveillance cameras positioned around the city are disabled by June 30 and that they remain disabled until they are removed no later than July 31.
“Should Flock be unable or unwilling to provide such verification, the city may consider physically obstructing the cameras by means of bags over the equipment,” Mayor Jake Woodford said in a June 22 memorandum to the Safety and Licensing Committee.
Woodford announced on May 6 that Appleton had begun the process to end its use of Flock cameras, known formally as automated license plate readers. The city notified Flock that it will terminate its contract and stop using its products effective June 30.
The Safety and Licensing Committee recommended unanimously on June 24 that no payment be made to Flock after June 30.
Woodford said Appleton has paid for the service through the end of the year. Its contract with Flock was to run through 2028.
Concerns with Flock’s system ‘have eroded our trust’
Flock cameras are positioned in public rights-of-way and take photographs of the rear of all vehicles that pass by. The system records vehicle license plates and basic vehicle characteristics and compiles the information into a shared, searchable database that can be accessed by police near and far.
Police have used the technology to identify vehicles used in crimes, locate stolen vehicles and track vehicles of missing people. Woodford said if an alternative to Flock is identified, it is an important capability to maintain.
“That being said, concerns about the integrity of Flock’s underlying system have eroded our trust,” Woodford said.
Menasha police officer Cristian Morales was charged with misconduct in public office, a felony, after prosecutors allege he accessed the Flock system in October to track an ex-girlfriend’s car while off duty. The case is scheduled for a jury trial on July 28 and 29 in Outagamie County.
A former Milwaukee police officer who prosecutors say used the Flock system to track someone he was dating pleaded guilty June 11 to attempted misconduct in public office, a misdemeanor. Josue Ayala, 34, will be sentenced on July 15 in Milwaukee County.
Oshkosh rescinded its agreement with Flock Safety in April after Police Chief Dean Smith said the company misrepresented information about its system a day earlier. Grand Chute ended its contract with Flock in June and switched to a different vendor, Axon.
Dane County, Sturgeon Bay and Verona also have cut ties with Flock.
Neenah is facing intense scrutiny for its continued use of Flock cameras, with critics questioning whether the crime-solving benefits are worth the erosion of privacy rights and civil liberties.
“It’s been made extraordinarily clear that the Appleton Police Department and the City of Appleton really jumped the gun in implementing this tech in our streets,” Appleton resident Tanner Mann told Appleton’s Safety and Licensing Committee.
“Trust is gained in drops and lost in buckets,” Appleton resident Laney French said. “When I think about this Flock debacle, I feel like what’s happened is that we have lost faith in this kind of technology in buckets.”
Appleton ponders control over mass surveillance technologies
The Safety and Licensing Committee debated two resolutions related to the city’s use of automated license plate readers.
Resolution 4-R-26, submitted May 6 by Common Council member Nate Wolff, sought to direct Appleton police “to immediately revoke and cease the use of all automated license plate reader cameras, regardless of the vendor or manufacturer, and terminate any contractual relationship with any ALPR provider at the earliest legally permissible date.”
The resolution further stated that “no future municipal funds shall be allocated or expended for the subscription, maintenance or renewal of any ALPR system.”
The committee received and filed the resolution but took no further action, meaning it won’t advance to the council for consideration.
“I’m in no hurry to jump back into using this technology anytime soon,” council member Patrick Hayden said, “but I don’t want to go to this extreme, either.”
Resolution 9-R-26, submitted June 17 by council members Denise Fenton and Katie Van Zeeland, seeks to establish public oversight and accountability standards for ALPR and mass surveillance technologies.
The resolution states that prior to the council approving the police department’s acquisition or use of an ALPR system, the council “shall be provided with a thorough report describing the technology, purpose, cost, types of data collected, data handling practices and safeguards related to the system’s use and the protection of individual civil rights.”
It further states that the same terms shall apply to “any new technologies involving automated mass surveillance/data collection and analysis using artificial intelligence” that Appleton police may seek to employ.
In addition, the resolution demands that Appleton police submit an annual ALPR report that includes “examples of uses, aggregated data, a summary of any policy breaches and dispositions, and evidence of impact on city service delivery.”
The committee unanimously supported the resolution. It will be considered by the council at its July 15 meeting.
Before the committee’s vote, Police Chief Polly Olson emphasized that ALPR technology is cost-effective and helpful for law enforcement.
“Rejecting a valuable public safety tool solely because it can be misused ignores the safeguards available and the benefits it provides,” Olson said. “The solution is not to eliminate technology; it is to establish appropriate rules, oversight and accountability.”
Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X at @DukeBehnke.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton asks Flock Safety to disable surveillance cameras by June 30
Reporting by Duke Behnke, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Duke Behnke, Appleton Post-Crescent | USA TODAY Network
