BROOKFIELD, Wis. — A Brookfield alderwoman is calling for a formal legislative review of the city's automated license plate reader system, saying the contract was approved without the city council's involvement and that elected officials have had little opportunity to weigh in on how resident data is being used.
Alderwoman Catherine Kahler said the city's $40,000 contract with Flock Safety was approved without a council vote because the cost fell below the $50,000 threshold required to trigger council involvement. She said that leaves little to no oversight regarding the data being collected by the cameras.
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"My main concern is the scale of this system. I don't know what council has ever had the opportunity to review whether public funds should be used to provide Brookfield resident data into a privately operated network of this scale," Kahler said.
Kahler said she has full faith in the Brookfield Police Department's use of the data, but she is concerned about how the information collected is being accessed and used beyond local law enforcement.
"We're not just talking about a small local database. We're talking about an enormous network that can be shared," Kahler said.
Concerns over Flock cameras are growing across the region.
Last month, Brookfield police held people at gunpoint after pulling over a car flagged by a Flock alert — a situation that turned out to be a human error by neighboring Milwaukee police. In Sheboygan, city leaders covered their cameras over trust issues with the company. In Milwaukee, two officers were charged with misusing the system for personal reasons.
Some Brookfield drivers say the pattern of incidents has them concerned. Rickki Hood, a driver, said the cameras amount to an invasion of privacy.
"We already have enough cameras out here today," Hood said. "I feel like it's just an invasion of privacy to put these cameras out without anybody's knowledge."
Other drivers say they support Kahler's call for more oversight.
"I think she's right on track. We need to look into it. We can't just have people collecting data and not having any information about what it's used for or where it's going to," Lisa Texeira, a driver, said.
Kahler is hoping the formal legislative review will give city leaders a more informed opinion about whether Brookfield's $40,000 contract with Flock Safety should automatically renew next July.
"It's no secret that I'm skeptical of these automated license plate readers, but I am going in with an open mind," Kahler said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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