{"id":258460,"date":"2026-04-09T00:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T00:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/258460\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T00:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T00:16:13","slug":"flock-drone-pilot-program-spurs-controversy-in-oakland-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/258460\/","title":{"rendered":"Flock drone pilot program spurs controversy in Oakland County"},"content":{"rendered":"

(WXYZ) \u2014 The Oakland County Board of Commissioners will be voting tonight on a controversial pilot drone program with the company Flock.<\/p>\n

Watch Mike Duffy’s video report: <\/p>\n

Flock drone pilot program spurs controversy in Oakland County<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same company known for its license plate reading camera system. The Oakland County sheriff tells me drones have been literally saving lives locally for the past four years, but opponents worry the potential new partnership could pose privacy and data concerns. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a new program. We understand the security and privacy concerns. We\u2019ve dealt with them. This is just trying a different piece of equipment, because our current piece of equipment we can no longer get,” said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard. <\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

WXYZ-TV<\/p>\n

Bouchard tells me that\u2019s because the federal government banned the importation and use of the Chinese-made drones currently in use. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s very few drone manufacturers in America that have the same capability and technology. And really, you know, the two top ones would be Flock and Skydio. So we actually are looking to pilot both of those and see which one better meets our needs,” he said. <\/p>\n

While these eyes in the sky promise speed and a whole new perspective, the public has a variety of opinions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I think it\u2019s positive. Need to use the technology any way you possibly can as long as it\u2019s for the best of the community,” said Larry Gable, who lives in Bloomfield Hills. <\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

WXYZ-TV<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it has its pros and its cons,” said Ronita Coleman, who lives in Southfield. \u201cIt allows law enforcement to take the initiatives that they need to sort of get ahead of an event. \u00a0At the same time, you have controversial issues where you can falsely identify someone.”\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

WXYZ-TV<\/p>\n

I also chatted with Taya, an Oakland County resident and self-described activist. She goes by the handle @debateher on Instagram and @debateherofficial on TikTok and has hundreds of thousands of followers across platforms. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m working with a group of people who are going to be showing up at this meeting in strong opposition to what can only be described as an AI-powered surveillance state,” said Taya. <\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

WXYZ-TV<\/p>\n

They currently have a petition opposing Flock on Change.org. <\/p>\n

Taya says she\u2019s deeply worried about the data Flock collects and the public\u2019s Fourth Amendment rights.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cI am not against law enforcement. I want my community to be safe. But unfortunately, the people who are in our current law enforcement will not be there forever,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

I asked Sheriff Bouchard about the storage and use of data by Flock. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t share it with third parties … we won\u2019t be giving any of that. I\u2019ll be more clear to Flock. Or anybody else, unless there\u2019s a warrant or a specific case that it\u2019s involved in,” said Sheriff Bouchard.<\/p>\n

He added, “This was drafted actually without our day-to-day involvement. So the current language we have in the Flock cameras, you know the LPRs, license plate readers, very specifically say it\u2019s our data and no one can share. We want that same language in the drone contract, if one goes forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

I also reached out to Flock. A spokesperson for the company issued a statement that says: <\/p>\n

“Flock\u2019s Drone as a First Responder (DFR) program helps agencies respond to emergency calls more quickly and safely, with drones typically arriving on scene in about 90 seconds, often before officers. In practice, this allows departments to assess evolving incidents, track suspects without vehicle pursuits, search for missing persons, and provide real-time intelligence to improve decision-making.<\/p>\n

“On data security: all video and flight data are encrypted in transit and at rest. Access is limited to authorized personnel at the Sheriff\u2019s Office, and all access is logged and auditable. Flock customers own all the data collected through the DFR system, including images, video, and metadata. Drone flight logs are publicly available via a dashboard designed to support transparency and accountability. Until a drone reaches the location of a call for service, its camera remains forward-facing to limit field of view and reduce potential privacy concerns.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(WXYZ) \u2014 The Oakland County Board of Commissioners will be voting tonight on a controversial pilot drone program…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[4551,794,46776,114123,4553,143,904,145,144,4552],"class_list":{"0":"post-258460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-7-action-news","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-flock-cameras","11":"tag-flock-drone-plan-oakland-county","12":"tag-metro-detroit","13":"tag-oakland","14":"tag-oakland-county","15":"tag-oakland-headlines","16":"tag-oakland-news","17":"tag-wxyz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}