Fond du Lac County law enforcement agencies are the latest to discontinue the use of automated license plate recognition (ALPR) systems.
The release was signed by Fond du Lac County Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt, Fond du Lac Police Chief Aaron Goldstein, Waupun Police Chief Jeremy Rasch, Ripon Police Chief Bill Wallner, and North Fond du Lac Police Chief Pete Vergos. All five said the usage would be effective immediately. The county agencies use Flock as the vendor.
Kenosha says farewell Flock, citing security, misuse and data sharing concerns
According to the law enforcement agencies, the decision follows the discovery that search data from Flock systems, including records tied to active investigations, as disclosed to the public by law enforcement agencies in other states in response to open records requests they received.
"The loss of control over our own investigative data, combined with concerns over how quickly Flock's technology has expanded beyond traditional plate-reading systems, has led Fond du Lac County law enforcement agencies to conclude that continuing the program at this time is not appropriate," the statement reads.
The law enforcement officials said that the technology has helped them apprehend dangerous criminals, and they also instituted county-wide protocols for use, however, maintaining the public's trust is a critical part of their departments' missions.
"We are fully discontinuing use of Flock systems effective immediately. The ability to conduct searches on our system has ended as of today, and covers are being installed over the lens of every camera to prevent further image capture," the joint statement reads. "To be clear, our confidence in our officers' use of this tool hasn't changed. What changed was the realization that once our data leaves our respective agencies, we cannot guarantee how it's handled elsewhere. That is not a risk we're willing to accept without stronger safeguards in place."
On Thursday, Kenosha's police chief said they are terminating the city contract with Flock Safety, citing concerns over data sharing and more.
Kenosha is replacing Flock with Axon's Outpost license plate readers.