What the Flock? Security cameras draw mixed reactions

The complete article with additional quotes from those involved in Monday's meeting and how the cameras are used appears in the Aug. 27 print edition of The Brillion News.

By David Nordby

The Brillion News

BRILLION – When Brillion City Council voted to approve Flock cameras in fall 2023, it was a mostly unheralded decision. But over the last three years, the dialogue has changed nationally and locally.

Flock cameras, built by the company Flock Safety, have drawn increased scrutiny nationally in recent months. The cameras read and log license plates with artificial intelligence (AI), save vehicle details and create a data system. Thousands of police departments across the United States now use the cameras in addition to residential purchasers like in private neighborhoods.

Critics of the Flock cameras voice overall surveillance concerns and say the company stores detailed data. Critics cite instances where policemen used the cameras for tracking without a warrant in place. Advocates for the cameras say they help deter crime and identify those who have committed crimes, sometimes serious in nature. Advocates also point to security cameras and license plate readers and their usage already in place for decades.

Two Flock cameras are currently installed in Brillion, one coming into the city from the East side by the welcome to Brillion sign and one while driving South approaching Kwik Trip.

Citizen Mark Van Handel has voiced a displeasure with the city using the cameras at numerous public meetings this year including during Monday night’s Committee of the Whole.

Van Handel says the city policy doesn’t align with the company’s policy.

“Our Flock cameras, I’ve been told, are subsidized by Calumet County, which is great, but then if you read our city policy on them, it states in the first section the only people that can [view] our data from the Flock cameras is our department,” Van Handel said.  

Outside jurisdictions need to request to see footage or receive data from the cameras.

However, because Brillion joined in with Calumet County, all municipalities in the county who have Flock cameras are under the same Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and have access to the data and footage stored.

“They can see them. They can use the information that’s there because that’s our group,” Police Chief Kirk Schend said.

Outside of Calumet County, if a law enforcement group contacts Schend over footage in Brillion, it’s a case-by-case basis.

“That can be restricted. I have the ability to say [yes or no],” Schend said.

Van Handel claimed the security on the cameras is not good on them and voiced concern about selling data to companies like Google. He also told the committee members that they can deny that police in other states have been arrested for improperly using the cameras, but it is happening.

“If you guys want to think it’s not true, why do cops keep getting arrested,” Van Handel said, before adding he’s not as concerned with current Brillion Police Department members misusing them, but it’s noteworthy across the country.

Cristian Morales, a Menasha officer, was sentenced to jail on Aug. 17 for improper use of a Flock camera.

“My biggest thing is that you can’t blow everything out of proportion when you have one or two bad apples,” Alderperson Kory Davis said.

Mayor Mike Smith also voiced some concern over the cameras and equated them to the beginning of social media.

“If many of us could go back and understand that by signing up for social media, we were giving our personalities to corporations to sell for their profit, we probably wouldn’t sign up for it, and I kind of feel like knowing what we now know about Flock, that Flock is the law enforcement version of that,” Smith said.

If you have an opinion about Flock cameras you are encouraged to email them to bneditor@thebrillionnews.com.