Bay City leaders have decided not to move forward with a plan to install automated license plate cameras around the city.
The City Commission voted 6–2 this week to reject a two-year contract with Flock Safety, a company that provides camera systems used to identify vehicles connected to criminal cases. The proposal called for 13 cameras at a cost of about $84,000. The idea has been under discussion since the summer, and the funding had already been allocated, but the contract still required final approval. The cameras would have sent alerts to public safety officers when vehicles tied to serious crimes were detected.
Flock representatives say the technology has helped other communities solve cases and locate missing people. The Commission’s vote followed months of strong pushback from residents, who raised concerns about privacy, data storage and oversight.
However, a presentation from the ACLU also urged the city to set strict protections if it ever pursued similar technology in the future. Flock is named in lawsuits from the ACLU, alleging the cameras use aritificial intelligence to track supposedly suspicious movements from citizens, and some courts have ruled the data obtained by the cameras are a matter of public record.
With this week’s vote, the funding set aside for the camera system may now be redirected to other public safety needs, pending further review by city staff.