Flock cameras face growing public scrutiny across Minnesota

Minnesota cities and counties are increasingly divided over Flock cameras, with some police agencies touting the technology as a powerful tool for solving crimes while others are shutting down cameras amid privacy concerns.

Flock cameras are automated license plate readers that photograph passing vehicles and log information including license plates, vehicle characteristics and where and when the vehicle was captured. They’re different from traditional traffic cameras and operate on a much larger scale.

“Flock goes further,” said University of Minnesota law professor William McGeveran in an MPR News with Angela Davis interview. “It knows the make, model, color of your car. It reads your bumper stickers. It finds scratches and bumps on the back part of your car, and all that can go in the database as well.”

That information is collected into a database that can be accessed by law enforcement agencies, McGeveran said. Flock also has private customers, like homeowners associations and parking lots, but the database is mostly used as a police resource.

That has raised concerns about how the information could be used — or misused — for immigration enforcement.

“There are many, many examples of ICE having access to the data from the cameras by working with a local law enforcement agency that runs a search for them, including in Minnesota,” McGeveran said.

Cities weigh tradeoffs

The debate is playing out in Dayton, which is holding an informational meeting Tuesday about the technology. In Fridley, Flock cameras have already sparked intense backlash.

A Minnesota Star Tribune investigation found hundreds of immigration-related searches of Flock data across the Twin Cities, the majority involving data from cameras in Fridley. The city subsequently restricted access to its Flock data.

According to Flock, federal data sharing is off by default and local communities decide who can access and share their data.

Police departments, meanwhile, say the cameras are an important investigative tool.

In Medina, a city west of Minneapolis with fewer than 8,000 people, Police Chief Jason Nelson told the city council earlier this year the license plate reader technology helped investigators track down a suspect in the kidnapping of a 9-year-old girl. The department also uses the cameras to locate stolen vehicles and investigate high-profile burglaries, including one in which police tracked a suspect all the way to Florida.

"It acts as a force multiplier for our department because we're a small department, but yet we have a big geographical area,” Nelson said. “So knowing that a stolen vehicle is coming into the city in an area that we were not in, it notifies us. It notifies our surrounding agencies."

Nelson said Medina only shares its Flock data with approved agencies and has not shared it with the federal government.

But the technology is facing growing backlash. At least four Minnesota cities have reported Flock cameras being vandalized or stolen, including Winona, where all eight cameras were taken.

In North Branch, a planned expansion of Flock is now on pause. Mayor Kevin Schieber said public trust has to be part of the equation.

“If you don't trust the data, if you don't trust the system, then that information doesn't matter,” Schieber said. “I saw the benefits, but I also understand the loopholes, the concerns. I also understand the government overreach stuff."

Duluth, Columbia Heights and West St. Paul have also moved to suspend or end their Flock contracts.

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