Clawson council declines two‑year renewal of Flock Safety camera contract

The Clawson City Council voted on May 5 against renewing a two‑year master services agreement with Flock Safety for automated license‑plate‑reader (ALPR) cameras, after hours of public comment and a detailed presentation by police and company representatives.

The motion on the table — a two‑year renewal at an annual fee of $12,000 — failed on a split roll call. Council members Timlin, Mayor Susan Moffitt and Mayor Pro Tem O'Rourke voted to approve the contract; Council members Pelton, Slowinski and Speshock voted no, leaving the motion short of a majority.

The council hearing combined residents’ testimony, a department presentation and a technical Q&A. Police Chief Boss told the council ALPRs are “instrumental” in investigating fleeing suspects, recovering stolen vehicles and locating missing people; she cited regional examples and local cases where cameras contributed to arrests or recoveries. School resource officer Lindsey Brozich described how plate data can quickly narrow searches in time‑sensitive child‑safety scenarios. Sergeant Paul Korb said officers must document an incident number and a legal reason before querying the system and that audits and disciplinary steps would follow any misuse.

Opponents in public comment — including residents and information‑security practitioners — argued the system creates persistent vehicle profiles, can be combined across jurisdictions into broader tracking networks, and has an unverified history of security incidents and internal misuse. Speakers referenced independent reports and local cases in other jurisdictions where access to ALPR systems was abused; one speaker pointed to a recent industry incident in which some Flock‑related cameras and admin panels were exposed online.

Jamie Hudson, Flock’s director of product training (and a former law‑enforcement official), and Jackie Fischbein, the company’s deputy general counsel, answered council questions about data retention, backups and auditability. Flock representatives said the company undergoes annual SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audits, conducts external penetration tests and provides a security portal to customers; they also said that contractual redlines negotiated with the city would prevent one‑sided online terms from overriding the signed master services agreement.

Council members pressed the presenters on several operational points: whether back‑up copies can temporarily retain deleted data, how breach notifications are handled, whether employees or acquirers could access customer data, the difference between fixed ALPR cameras and live pan‑tilt‑zoom (PTZ) cameras, and what administrative auditing tools the city would have to review officer queries. Flock and its CISO explained that backups may remain until they age off, that the company would notify the customer of breaches and that the contract as negotiated binds any potential acquirer to the same obligations.

In discussion, some council members said the city already has administrative controls and that the tool is valuable for a small department with few investigators; others said the documented national incidents, contract limitations and the company’s ability to change platform features without practical municipal oversight created unacceptable risks. The council’s failure to approve the renewal leaves the existing ALPR hardware in place for now but without an updated master services agreement.

What happens next: the council did not adopt the renewal. City staff said they would coordinate next steps with the police department and legal counsel; councilmembers asked staff to continue monitoring legislative and regulatory efforts related to ALPR use and to consider further contract safeguards or alternative solutions.

Vote at a glance: motion to renew Flock Safety MSA for two years at $12,000/year — outcome: failed (yes: Timlin, Mayor Susan Moffitt, Mayor Pro Tem O'Rourke; no: Pelton, Slowinski, Speshock).