The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department announced they would not be renewing their contract with Flock Safety in a statement on July 3, prompting Dane County law enforcement agencies to consider Flock camera alternatives for the greater Madison area.
The choice to not renew the contract, which ended on June 26, was made to “work toward identifying an automatic license plate reader (ALPR) vendor that better meets University of Wisconsin-Madison public safety needs, while also addressing campus community concerns about contracting with Flock.”
The removal of Flock cameras has been a growing trend in the Madison area, with the Dane County Sheriff’s office and the City of Fitchburg also choosing to remove the technology. All three departments are actively exploring options for an alternative ALPR vendor. UWPD stated “this technology has proven to be an effective tool”, and they plan on engaging with the community for input.
ALPRs are cameras that automatically capture, analyze and store vehicle license plate information. Records of vehicle activity can then be created to assist law enforcement in criminal investigations.
Common concerns expressed with ALPR technology are the potential violation of privacy expectations given under the fourth amendment, most strongly by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Additionally, concerns exist about the accuracy of the AI used to identify vehicles that can lead to wrongful arrests.
The city of Madison does not operate any Flock cameras or any ALPRs, per the Use of Surveillance Technology Ordinance. There are currently four Flock cameras operating around the capitol, as capitol police are a separate jurisdiction.
Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett has said there will be additional safeguards in place along with alternative vendors to Flock, including deleting camera records after 30 days, unless manually saved as evidence in an investigation. Weekly audits would also be conducted to prohibit abuse. Additionally, Dane County will have full control over the data, which will not be made available for immigration enforcement or traffic enforcement.
As more municipalities move away from Flock camera contracts, alternative vendors such as Motorola and Axon rise as alternatives.
Motorola cameras offer a similar law enforcement data sharing system to Flock, but it faces similar criticism. A class action lawsuit was filed against the company in June alleging facilitation of cross jurisdictional sharing of ALPR data, as well as an inadequate privacy policy.
Axon has grown the most with the exodus from Flock, offering tighter municipal control and a lack of the data sharing system, limiting concerns about third party access to data. Axon is not restricted to just license plate reading, as it integrates these cameras into a broader system including body cameras, drones and the Fusus system — a system allowing private security camera owners to register their cameras with the local police department, making it easier for police to identify nearby cameras to a particular incident.
Axon would not be new to the Dane County area, as the Fusus system has been in place since the Connect Madison initiative began in 2024.
Camera owners are able to go a step further and integrate their camera into the Madison Police Department system. An Axon Fusus device can be installed with a camera that would give police live streaming capability from that particular camera. Whether live streaming is continuous or in case of an emergency is up to owner discretion.
There are currently 170 cameras across Madison integrated with live streaming capability, and an additional 33 that can be accessed by police. The data the cameras collect is kept anonymous, with owners being notified when the camera is used, but not the public. Which cameras are accessible to police is also not made available to the public.
For both Motorola and Axon, though, the fundamental technology is very similar to Flock.
Abuse of Flock technology has also become widespread, with officers being charged in the last two months in Milwaukee, Kenosha and Menasha for stalking via ALPR technology. Flock specifically has received scrutiny because of the accuracy with which it can track vehicle activity, and how personal details such as religious and political affiliation can be revealed through the tracking.
Flock also offers a nationwide database of vehicle activity, meaning law enforcement agencies across the country may be able to access Flock data for an area hundreds of miles away. This database is managed by the Flock company itself, raising issues for many about third party abuse.
The Dane County Board voted in a June 4 meeting to reinstate the $80,000 used for Flock cameras to explore an alternative ALPR vendor, though any vendor must follow the county’s requirements giving the county full control over camera data. Fitchburg police have also stated that any vendor who controls the data instead of the police department will be a non-starter.
