Flock cameras cut down as KC metro pushback grows
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The pushback against cameras that read license plates is growing in the Kansas City metro, where one town canceled its contract and a former detective faces criminal charges over alleged misuse.
Why it matters: More people are scrutinizing the surveillance technology because of privacy concerns, with some pressuring city leadership or targeting the cameras themselves.
How it works: Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) use AI to capture and store a "vehicle fingerprint" — including license plate numbers, bumper stickers, decals and roof racks — and log where cars travel.
- Agencies decide who else can search their data, and many share it across jurisdictions without requiring a warrant, KCUR reported.
- ALPR company Flock Safety has more than 120,000 cameras nationwide, it tells Axios, and contracts with about 40% of U.S. police departments.
Catch up quick: KC-area controversies have illustrated broader concerns about license plate readers.
- In March, Wyandotte County prosecutors charged former Bonner Springs detective Kyle Rector with 18 counts, including stalking and official misconduct. A court affidavit said he used license plate readers to track his estranged wife.
- Bonner Springs police tell Axios they still use license plate readers but have added safeguards since, requiring officers to enter a case number and a documented reason for every search.
A month earlier, Lenexa police tracked Canyen Ashworth's car using license plate readers and emailed officers a "be on the lookout," naming him in a poster vandalism case, KCUR reported. He was never charged.
- Emails show the then-chief raised investigating Ashworth the morning his column criticizing the department appeared in the Kansas City Star. The chief's successor in Lenexa says the case was about property damage, not the column.
- Weston is also backing out. The city approved two Flock cameras back in December, then canceled the contract in May after residents packed council meetings to object.
The latest: Now the cameras themselves are coming down. Kearney had two camera incidents this month. One was found sawed down, and a second was removed from a pole, leaving behind dangling wires.
- Liberty has reported three cameras stolen or damaged.
- The Platte County sheriff's office says another camera was sawed off its pole and stolen in July. The office says it was worth more than $2,500, enough to make the theft a Class D felony under Missouri's stealing law.
- No arrests have been announced in any of the cases.
Yes, but: Police say the same tools help solve crimes. KCPD credits license plate readers with tracking down a suspect in the I-435 shooting in December.
- Cass County deputies arrested a suspect in an Odessa shooting last week after a Flock camera flagged his car.
- Flock says it aided about 1 million police investigations last year and helped find about 10,000 missing people across the U.S.
State of play: Flock said earlier this month that every police department using its cameras will have to run software that flags unusual searches and locks out officers until a supervisor reviews the search.
- Flock is changing its recommended default retention period from 30 days to seven, while existing customers keep their current settings unless they opt in.
- The ACLU said deleting data sooner helps, but the rest of the changes have been tried before and didn't stop misuse.
- A lawyer at the Institute for Justice, which is suing over the cameras, called it window dressing from a company in panic mode.
What's next: Platte City's two Flock contracts come up for renewal within the year, and a resident group is organizing against them.
- Metro departments that use Flock must adopt its misuse-detection feature by Jan. 1; the seven-day retention period is a recommendation, not a mandate