Copyright M Live Michigan
FLINT, MI -- License plate-reading cameras in Flint are working well enough that the Police Department wants to add 31 more to its network. A City Council committee is scheduled to consider a $199,550 request for the expansion from Police Chief Terence Green when it meets on Wednesday, Oct. 22. The price includes $160,500 for equipment -- paid for with a federal grant -- and $39,050 for professional services from the police budget. A resolution on the council’s Finance Committee agenda recommends an agreement with Flock Group Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia, for the additional plate readers, increasing the city’s investment in the program to more than $1.1 million. The bulk of that payment is tied to a previous, five-year contract with Flock that runs through Dec. 22, 2028. Flock cameras are in use throughout Michigan and in more than 1,500 cities across the nation, according to the council resolution. Flock cameras, mounted along public streets, take a single photo of the back of a vehicle, capturing its license plate. The photos can alert police in real time when a vehicle connected to a crime passes by a camera. Police can also use archived photos to retrace a suspect’s movements, according to a staff review provided to the council. Council members approved increasing Flint’s network of Flock cameras, integrated with gunshot detection, from 25 to 68 in November 2021 after Green credited the technology with helping officers solve crimes ranging from stolen property to homicide. In 2022, when the council approved a long-term maintenance agreement with Flock for city cameras, Green said he was using the technology to target crime hot spots with a goal of reducing violent crime. He said then that coverage provided by the city’s 68 cameras wasn’t enough to cover every corner of the city. In the city’s staff review, the plate readers are credited with assisting Flint police in investigations that have solved and aided in solving homicides, violent assaults, stolen vehicles, stolen property, missing children, and gang activity. “The Flint Police Department believes that adding to the network of cameras will give them an even better ability to solve crimes...,” the review reads. “When law enforcement has better tools, residents may feel safer, and the crime rate can be lowered, which can improve the quality of life and possibly reduce the fear of crime. They might reduce insurance premiums if crime rates fall.” License plate reader critics include the American Civil Liberties Union, which in August warned that Flock is building a “dangerous nationwide mass-surveillance infrastructure” that’s being used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. MLive-The Flint Journal could not immediately reach Mayor Sheldon Neeley or Green for additional comment on the program on Tuesday, Oct. 21.
