Plymouth Police Unplug Flock Cameras After Vote — SkimNews
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- Plymouth City Council unanimously voted at its Sept. 22 meeting to discontinue Flock’s automated license-plate readers; on Sept. 23, the city suspended all local Flock accounts, notified the company and sent formal cancellation by U.S. Mail and email.
- Eric Fadden directed Plymouth Police staff to disconnect the cameras’ power cords after more than a week without a corporate or legal reply from Flock, whose only communication came from a local representative; the devices were disabled to prevent functioning or plate recording.
- Flock markets its cameras as automated license-plate readers, but its AI also identifies vehicles using stickers, paint color, make and model; more than 300,000 cameras are installed nationwide.
- Flock has drawn multiple controversies: officers were arrested for misusing the system, motorists were reportedly pulled over after an AI algorithm deemed travel history “suspicious,” and a car reviewer was caught in a mistaken police “ambush” over an administrative error in California.
- Dayton paused its Flock program and disabled two devices after police learned Flock intended to replace them; Flock proceeded with the replacement despite instructions not to do so.
Why it matters: Plymouth’s account suspensions and power cuts show that a council vote alone did not deactivate Flock locally. For privacy critics, the concrete change was that cameras stopped recording plates, while Flock faced added labor and reduced coverage within a nationwide network of more than 300,000 cameras.
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