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The Metro: License plate readers in Ferndale draw criticism, face city council vote
Ferndale City Council will soon decide whether to renew a contract with public safety surveillance company Flock Safety for a subscription to their Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR) product. A vote is expected in the coming weeks.
The city’s first year of using the service, which it calls a pilot study, is coming to a close. In a September 29 city council meeting, Ferndale officials presented results of the pilot study and heard community concerns over civil liberties and data privacy.
Some of the concerns raised at that meeting appear to have been addressed since then.
In a statement to The Metro, City Manager Colleen O’Toole cited a few notable changes to the city’s policy on data sharing with other law enforcement entities and facial recognition software.
“The City has elected to remove itself from inclusion in the National Database Search feature that allows outside departments to access data for criminal investigations without our consent. This ensures that Ferndale’s data is only used with the express permission of our local police department.”
She added that Ferndale’s ALPR system does not use facial recognition technology.
Regional cooperation
Flock’s product takes pictures of vehicles and license plates from stationary cameras mounted in public right-of-ways. In the city council presentation, officials said coordination with other Flock Safety ALPR subscribers in metro Detroit has led law enforcement to find and arrest wanted individuals.
In metro Detroit, 12 other cities subscribe to Flock’s ALPR product: Detroit, Hazel Park, Madison Heights, Royal Oak, Troy, Birmingham, Southfield, Oak Park, Warren, Sterling Heights, Shelby Township and Auburn Hills. The technology is also used by the Michigan State Police and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department.
Ferndale City Manager Colleen O’Toole told the Metro the city’s police department has seen “real-world contributions to homicide and child kidnapping investigations that were solved thanks to information gathered through the system.”
Contested corridor
In the meeting, officials proposed removing seven of 16 cameras currently in use, saying they don’t provide enough return on investment.
Many of the cameras they plan to remove are located on or near the Ferndale-Detroit border along Eight Mile. Ferndale Police’s activity along that stretch of road has been subject to scrutiny. In the past decade, both ACLU Michigan and Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) have accused the Ferndale Police Department of racial profiling targeting African American drivers in traffic stops.
Flock Safety‘s transparency dashboard for Ferndale indicates that any use for immigration enforcement and targeting of protected classes (race, gender, etc.) is prohibited.
While the city wants to keep using Flock license plate readers, there are concerned residents opposed to the technology.
Prasad Venugopal and Kathleen LaTosch are members of the Ferndale Inclusion Network. They joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss why they are urging the city council to vote no on the contract.
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