The Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Office is preparing to deploy a new technology in fighting crime: license plate-reading cameras that can provide real-time alerts when cars that are stolen or involved in a crime or AMBER alert travel within the community. The cameras can also capture other vehicle information – including make, model, color, and features like roof racks and bumper stickers – in a searchable format for law enforcement. Sheriff’s Office representatives told Garfield Township trustees – who approved installing 14 cameras this week – that the technology could be used to solve crimes ranging from kidnappings to property crimes to hit-and-runs.

Garfield Township trustees unanimously agreed to contract with Flock Safety to install 14 cameras for use by the Sheriff’s Office. The cameras – which would be owned and maintained by Flock Safety but leased by Garfield Township– would be installed in high-traffic corridors and other strategic locations throughout the township. The cameras cost $2,850 each for the first year – a price that includes installation, for a total of $39,900. Garfield Township has an option to lock in second-year pricing for $2,500 per camera; trustees voted to negotiate with Flock Safety to see if that rate could be extended for additional years and to bring back a final contract for approval at a future meeting. Once approved, the cameras could take 8-12 weeks to install, according to Captain Randy Fewless, meaning they could be installed this spring ahead of the upcoming summer tourism season.

Peninsula Township trustees also voted this week to install 6 Flock Safety cameras on Old Mission Peninsula, according to Township Supervisor Isaiah Wunsch. East Bay Township trustees are set to discuss adding cameras at their March meeting, according to Fewless. Undersheriff Mike Shea said having individual townships pay for the cameras – instead of going to county commissioners and requesting general countywide funding for the project – gives townships more control over their placement and use. Fewless tells The Ticker the Sheriff’s Office wants to take “baby steps” in launching the program, but could eventually expand into other townships.

“We’re new to it, so we didn’t want to get in over our heads,” he says. “We’re starting with a few townships, then we would see what interest there is in the future in other townships.” The Traverse City Police Department has had cameras budgeted in its capital improvements plan (CIP) for several years, according to Chief Jeff O’Brien. He says the availability of Flock Safety cameras has “invigorated” TCPD conversations about using them in the city. O’Brien anticipates presenting a proposal to city commissioners in March about moving ahead with the camera program. One key use for them could be monitoring areas around the city’s “critical infrastructure,” like the Union Street Dam and the city’s water and wastewater plants, O’Brien says – sites that are generally considered to be an increasing security risk across the U.S.

In a presentation to Garfield Township trustees, Flock Safety Senior Community Affairs Manager Laura Ann Holland gave an overview of the company and what its cameras do – and don’t do. Flock Safety was founded in 2017 by entrepreneur Garrett Langley after experiencing property crime in his Atlanta neighborhood. After learning the majority of property crimes go unsolved – and that 70 percent of overall crimes involve the use of a vehicle – he worked to develop technology to capture license plate images. The technology is now in use in over 2,000 cities in at least 42 states. Flock Safety cameras – which are infrastructure-free, solar-powered, and LTE-enabled, Holland said – take high-speed photos of the backs of vehicles as they pass the cameras. An internal algorithm sorts and identifies the clearest photo of each vehicle, then uploads it to a searchable database. The cameras run 24/7 and use infrared technology to capture night photos, Holland said.

Holland emphasized that the cameras are not used for speeding or other traffic enforcement, only for crime-solving assistance. The cameras take still photos, not video footage, and do not use biometrics or facial recognition technology, she said. Photos are deleted after 30 days, according to Holland. The database can provide real-time alerts to authorities if stolen or wanted vehicles enter the community, or if a car linked to an AMBER alert is in the area. Authorities can also search for specific vehicle features. Holland gave an example of a fatal late-night hit-and-run in Van Buren Township in 2022 in which authorities were able to identify accident debris as belonging to a white Ford. A database search of cameras that evening produced a single photo of a white Ford near the accident, which authorities were able to use to find and arrest the suspect.

Shea cited that example when referencing the hit-and-run death of Kelly Boyce-Hurlbert in 2013 in downtown Traverse City – a case that remains unsolved today. “Had we had Flock cameras back when we had that tragedy during the Cherry Festival, would we still be standing here saying we have an unsolved hit-and-run?” he asked. Fewless also points to a more recent incident in which a bicyclist was struck on South Airport Road in a hit-and-run accident. “They had a good description of the vehicle, but no license plate,” he says. “If we had cameras up in that area, we could have had that vehicle identified in the hour. Just from an investigative standpoint, I think it’s going to be tremendously effective for us.”

Fewless told Garfield Township trustees that the cameras have already helped the Sheriff’s Office solve two cases even prior to their local installation. A duo who recently dropped counterfeit $100 bills at the Traverse City Walmart store were tracked to Kent County using a combination of Walmart’s surveillance footage and Flock Safety cameras downstate, Fewless said. In another case, Sheriff’s Office deputies were able to track and recover a $20,000 trailer stolen from the area using a plate number and the downstate camera network. “Even without having any of the cameras in our county, we’ve been able to find success,” Fewless told trustees. “We have embraced technology in solving crimes, as we've had to adapt to that. We're looking at this as a potential tool to be able to solve more crimes in your township and make it as safe as we possibly can.”

The cameras are not without their detractors, however. The ACLU has been harshly critical of automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras, the technology used by Flock Safety and other companies. The ACLU says it does not “generally object to using them to check license plates against lists of stolen cars, for AMBER Alerts, or for toll collection, provided they are deployed and used fairly and subject to proper checks and balances.” But the ACLU expresses concern that Flock Safety is building a “sweeping and powerful mass-surveillance tool” that could be misused by authorities, such as by sharing data to enforce anti-abortion or anti-immigrant laws from other jurisdictions. The ACLU encourages communities to set strict parameters on their police departments using ALPR cameras, such as prohibiting outside agencies from accessing local data and requiring photos to be deleted within three minutes (instead of 30 days) if they don’t generate an immediate hit.

Holland acknowledged privacy and transparency concerns in her presentation to Garfield Township trustees. She said Flock Safety offers to build free transparency portals for communities to outline their ALPR policies to the public and explain how the cameras and data collection work. Holland said Flock Safety technology includes auditing tools – such as unique user IDs and automatic keystroke logging – that allows system administrators and department leaders to monitor all search activity to prevent internal misuse. She also said having a 30-day window for storing photos offers a reasonable compromise between protecting public privacy and giving law enforcement enough time to access important evidence during ongoing investigations.

O’Brien says that establishing clear policies for camera usage and reassuring city commissioners and residents that the technology doesn’t represent a “Big Brother situation” will be an important part of TCPD discussions this spring. “That will take some time to work through,” he says. Sheriff’s Office representatives also said they wanted to monitor the first year of usage and share data with participating townships to evaluate if the program is cost-effective and address any concerns that may arise. “I would like to see that we walk before we run,” Shea told Garfield Township trustees.

Photo credit: Flock Safety