Grand Rapids is not taking its Flock license-plate cameras down. At Thursday's strategic-planning work session, the City Commission would not end the contract on the spot, even as Commissioner Marshall Kilgore argued the technology has not proven responsible or ethical and urged colleagues to answer residents' privacy concerns.
WOOD-TV reported that Kilgore called for the city to terminate its Flock contract and stop using standalone license plate readers altogether. He did not get a majority. The consensus that did form was narrower: restrict access by outside agencies that partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Who gets a login
The mechanism is the 287(g) agreement, which lets local police normally barred from federal immigration enforcement partner with ICE. Grand Rapids does not have one. Mayor David LaGrand said the city does not want to collaborate with agencies that do, MLive reported. As of Nov. 10, eight Michigan agencies did: the sheriff's offices in Livingston, Crawford, Roscommon, Calhoun, Berrien and Jackson counties, and the West Branch and Taylor police departments.
MLive reported the commission directed City Manager Mark Washington to seek restrictions that would keep those agencies out of Grand Rapids police Flock data. WWMT described ending that sharing as an option discussed at the workshop, not a finished rule.
The federal-sharing answer is less tidy. FOX 17 reported that LaGrand said Thursday the city does not share its Flock data with federal agencies. In late August, Michigan Advance reported police officials saying, "Grand Rapids does share its Flock data with some federal agencies," without naming which. Same system. Two answers.
Half a million plates
The volume is already public. MLive reported in September that a police portal showed 29 Flock readers at intersections, 478,245 unique plates in the prior 30 days, and 1,340 database searches. GRPD's stated controls are monthly audits and a short memory: "Flock records are retained for 30 days and then automatically deleted."
Police have used automated plate readers since 2012 and began contracting with Flock Safety in 2024, MLive reported. Their case for keeping the tool is operational. They say it helps identify violent-crime suspects more quickly. Residents' case against it is constitutional: Fourth Amendment privacy violations, and the chance the system gets misused. The work session also covered housing, immigration and mobility. The cameras were the piece with a contract still attached.
Disinclined, and still signed
LaGrand said he was seriously disinclined to continue with the same vendor, and he pushed to accelerate procurement so Grand Rapids could consider another one sooner. WWMT reported that leaders decided to speed up that process and look at other vendors rather than terminate the contract. Washington said he would assess whether procurement could move faster without affecting the audit. Staff had warned that a rush could jeopardize the review and cost officials months of useful data.
WOOD-TV put the price at about $100,000 a year, with an expiration in June 2027. FOX 17 reported the current contract remains in effect until April and did not specify the year. The Office of Oversight and Public Accountability is expected to release findings on the city's plate-reader use in April 2027. MLive reported a plan to solicit other vendors and present the top bid to the commission in May. A mayor ready to shop, an audit staff do not want hurried, and a contract that is not ending this month.
Michigan is already splitting
TechCrunch counted at least 10 local governments or police departments that have moved since summer to curb, restrict or end Flock use, including Lansing. MLive listed Clawson, Ferndale, Madison Heights and Milford among Michigan communities that have canceled. Hazel Park scheduled a December study session on whether to renew after public opposition. Some communities, MLive noted, have gone the other way and expanded use.
Pontiac's council on Tuesday rejected a pause, then unanimously required the Oakland County Sheriff's Office to account for security added after a data breach and to report on alternative systems. A former Oakland County sheriff's deputy used old credentials to enter the county Flock database and shared information with ICE, MLive reported. New rules there require a written report for every use, and the software warns users the data cannot be shared with ICE. Kalamazoo's public safety department limited direct access to local and regional partners in Kalamazoo County and Southwest Michigan, WOOD-TV reported. Cleveland, TechCrunch reported, extended its contract this summer while restricting immigration-related searches and limiting the database to Cleveland police.
In August, Flock said new customers would store data for seven days instead of 30, and would need a case code before a search. That shorter clock is for new customers. Grand Rapids' stated practice is still 30 days. Washington called Thursday a step toward reforming the technology rather than eliminating it, and said the actions were meant to balance crime-solving with community privacy concerns. The cameras stay. The cancellation Kilgore wanted does not. What he was directed to seek is a limit on who else can search the database, with an oversight audit expected in April 2027.
