Crowley May Kill Funding for Flock Cameras

A Flock Safety automated license plate reading camera. Photo by Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said Wednesday he doesn’t plan to include funding for Flock surveillance cameras in his 2027 recommended budget.

The county’s contract with the company Flock Safety expires at the end of the year and, with growing concerns about the controversial surveillance technology, the county executive does not plan to include funding for another contract in his budget. But he told media Wednesday the county’s 2027 budget process is ongoing and he hasn’t formally released his final recommendation yet.

“We’ve already put guidance out there as it relates to the flock cameras and making sure that we have guardrails and protecting people’s privacy, so until we have the policies and procedures in place, I don’t think that Milwaukee County should be running these cameras,” the county executive said in response to questions from reporters during a public event at Kosciuszko Park Wednesday.

Crowley announced on Sept. 1 that he was seeking limits and a policy framework for the county’s use of controversial Flock surveillance cameras, which passively capture license plates for all passing vehicles and store them in a searchable database.

He sent a memo to county government leaders, law enforcement and court officials calling for the development of a policy framework for Flock surveillance cameras that limits when they are used, who can use them, how long data is stored and who has access to the data.

Flock cameras, which were first introduced by the company in 2017, face a growing public backlash in Milwaukee and across the country. Recent polling by Data for Progress, a progressive, data-focused think tank, found overwhelming opposition to Flock cameras, regardless of political affiliation.

Milwaukee County has permitted 42 cameras on county parkland; another six cameras are set up on county roads and equipment, but they are being used by local municipal police departments and permitted by the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation, according to Crowley’s office.

The contract for the county’s Flock cameras is held by the county’s technology and IT department, called the Information Management Services Division, Crowley’s memo noted. The cameras are owned by Flock and the sheriff’s office has access to the data they collect.

Sup. Justin Bielinski is calling on the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office to stop using Flock cameras. He has also drafted a resolution that would prohibit Flock cameras on county parkland, which is controlled by the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.

Informed of Crowley’s current plans not to include funding for Flock in the 2027 budget, Bielinski told Urban Milwaukee, “I appreciate the County Executive hearing the feedback from constituents and other law enforcement agencies across the state. As we seek to move on from Flock as a contractor, it’s critical that we don’t trade one bad tech company for another, and that whatever we decide to do with surveillance in Milwaukee County going forward, civil rights, data custody, and community oversight must be our primary concerns.”

With midterm elections less than two months away, Flock cameras have joined data centers as a hot-button issue in races across the country. There is also growing bipartisan support to ban Flock cameras. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is not seeking reelection, recently issued an order to local governments to remove all Flock cameras from state highways. Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is seeking reelection, has said he would support a statewide ban.

In Wisconsin, both candidates for governor — Crowley and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany — have staked out positions on Flock that would be more restrictive than the current policy environment. Crowley has said he would push for transparency and limits on Flock cameras that protect privacy. Tiffany recently said during a campaign event at the Milwaukee Police Association that he would “pause state funding for Flock” and create a task force to “thoroughly review the use of flock cameras and making sure that there are guardrails around it.”

Elsewhere in Wisconsin, municipal leaders and law enforcement officials have started canceling their contracts with Flock. In Sheboygan, Mayor Ryan Sorenson canceled a contract with Flock after the company allegedly violated terms of its agreement. Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling recently ordered the removal of all Flock cameras used by the department, “after learning that Flock appears to have been collecting and retaining information beyond what the Sheriff’s Office understood or agreed to,” according to the Racine County Sheriff’s Office.