Public urges end to Flock cameras as MPD defends new ALPR audits before Fire and Police Commission

MILWAUKEE ' Dozens of residents pressed the Fire and Police Commission on May 7 to end the Milwaukee Police Department's use of Flock automated license-plate readers (ALPRs), while MPD officials outlined a new audit program they say will detect misuse and improve oversight.

'This city is in the midst of a surveillance crisis,' said Emilio Dottore of the Milwaukee Turners, telling commissioners that nationwide Flock deployments and vendor practices pose privacy and security risks. 'We have to cease the use of Flock.'

Speakers from the ACLU of Wisconsin, neighborhood groups and faith communities echoed those concerns, pointing to recent decisions by other jurisdictions to pause or terminate Flock contracts and to reporting that raised questions about cybersecurity and third-party access.

'Residents shared their concerns about sharing sensitive information with ICE,' Amanda Merkway, the ACLU's advocacy director in Wisconsin, told the commission, and said she had found no SOPs governing many surveillance tools MPD has acquired.

After public comment the commission took up a communication from MPD about ALPR use. Chief of Staff Heather Huff acknowledged the public's concerns and introduced James Lewis, MPD's risk manager, who detailed steps the department said it has taken since a documented misuse by an officer.

Lewis said MPD suspended Flock access in February, required retraining and a signed ALPR user agreement that requires officers to associate each query with a valid CAD or case number. He described a new, data-driven monthly audit that looks for outliers using statistical measures (z-scores) and flags cases for supervisory review.

'We identify outliers, we look at volume trends,' Lewis said, describing thresholds that trigger follow-up (for example, five or more queries by one officer or case activity that lasts 25 days). He said the audit is intended to give supervisors a targeted list of searches to review rather than a randomized pull.

MPD also described technical and administrative safeguards: multi-factor authentication for system access, retention of raw camera captures for 30 days (with access logs retained longer), and a vetting change that reduced users with access from roughly 370 before the misuse to just over 100 now. Lewis said two users had been administratively removed based on the April audit.

Commissioners questioned whether the audit can flag misuse in real time and whether non-MPD fusion partners or external task-force members ever had access. Lewis said the vendor does not provide the alerting functionality MPD requested and that verified users must have a milwaukee.gov email address; he said non-MPD partners do not have direct access to MPD's ALPR network.

MPD officials also told the commission that their ALPR cameras are limited to license-plate reading and are not being used for video or facial-recognition functions.

The meeting record shows no formal action to change procurement or to end the Flock contract; commissioners did vote on several other agenda items during the session, including a substitute motion to modify MPD SOP 4-60 (use of force) that passed by roll call, and multiple personnel promotions that were approved.

What's next: the file on ALPRs remains a communication from MPD and the commission indicated it will keep the issue moving and follow up on specific information requests (including network size and camera siting) according to staff notes.

Votes at a glance: The commission approved a substitute motion changing SOP 4-60 to require use-of-force reports when officers draw or display a firearm during an arrest (roll-call vote; motion carried). The commission also approved multiple promotion and appointment resolutions listed in the agenda; those votes were recorded as carried in roll calls.