Marinette covers Flock cameras amid privacy concerns
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MARINETTE -- The City of Marinette announced they will be temporarily covering Flock Safety cameras in operation throughout the city amid community concerns.
Marinette Mayor Steve Genisot and City of Marinette Police Chief Jon Lacombe said the city is reviewing citizen concerns regarding the city's use of automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras from Flock Safety, a surveillance technology company.
"We want to make sure these concerns are fully addressed before a decision is made about continued use of the cameras," Genisot said.
The temporary cover will prevent the collection of new vehicle and license plate data until the city and the Marinette City Common Council determine whether continued use of the system is appropriate, the City of Marinette Police Department said in a press release Monday.
"We take the concerns raised by our citizens seriously," said Genisot. "Technology can be an important public safety tool, but maintaining public trust is equally important."
Lacome said his department will work with Genisot, the common council and the community to review concerns and make further determinations as to whether Flock remains an appropriate tool for the department.
"Our responsibility is to use appropriate tools to help protect our community while also being accountable to the public," Lacombe said.
The city's announcement is not an isolated incidence. Many cities and law enforcement agencies have made similar announcements as Flock Safety continues to be scrutinized by lawmakers from both parties and civil liberties advocates.
Flock Safety announced in August it would be making multiple changes intended to address privacy concerns and documented abuses of its system by members of law enforcement across the nation.
Thousands of law enforcement agencies in 49 states can search and share Flock’s data across jurisdictions to aid their investigations, though several examples of law enforcement officers misusing the technology for personal searches have been publicized.
As reported in the Associated Press, Flock CEO Garrett Langley said many of the product changes will make what were once optional guardrails mandatory for its users to implement by Jan. 1.
One of Flock Safety's changes includes all law enforcement customers will have to implement an audit tool that's intended to flag abnormal search behavior.
Additionally, when the system detects abnormal behavior, the user would be locked out pending an internal review. Flock is also shortening the standard data retention window from 30 days to seven, only allowing data to be preserved longer when it is evidence tied to a case number.
The company further announced law enforcement users will be required to enter a code from their records management system tying each search to a specific case before it is run, and overrides for emergencies would be automatically flagged for review.
No final decision regarding the continued use of Flock Safety cameras in Marinette has been made at the time of publication.
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Sophie Vogelmann can be reached at 906-786-2021, ext. 148, or svogelmann@dailypress.net.