Hudson police say license‑plate 'Flock' cameras have boosted investigations; privacy concerns remain

Hudson Police Chief Jeff Holmes told the Western Wisconsin Journal that the department's network of license‑plate snapshot cameras, provided by Flock Safety, has become an important investigative tool for locating vehicles connected to crimes.

"A Flock is Flock Safety," Holmes said, describing the system as a set of plate‑facing cameras that create a digital geofence and capture still images — "it's a snapshot of the back of your vehicle. It's not a video." He said investigators use the system as a searchable index to find potential matches after crimes are reported rather than to issue traffic citations.

Holmes cited internal metrics when defenders and critics of the system were discussed: before adoption, investigators solved about 67% of cases referred for further investigation; "after the implementation of FLOC, we're at 90 over 91% that are getting solved," he said, crediting Flock searches paired with city traffic‑camera video for narrowing suspect pools.

Holmes described practical uses: if a business reports a burglary with a partial plate and a vehicle description, investigators can query the Flock images to generate candidate matches, then consult four‑way traffic‑camera video to track direction of travel. He also recounted one cross‑country example in which Flock images helped trace a stolen pickup that led investigators to partners in another state and arrests in Houston, Texas.

Opponents, Holmes acknowledged, worry the system could be used to track people or be abused when linked with powerful AI search tools. "There are third‑party companies out there that can do more of a tracking system with you," he said, and he acknowledged that concerns about sharing data with federal agencies have been raised at council meetings. Holmes said the city can turn off some sharing and that current department policy limits use of the system to public‑safety and criminal‑investigation purposes; he argued the benefits outweigh the risks in the department's current configuration.

Holmes emphasized technical limits that affect privacy: the system captures vehicle rears and partial views of vehicles, does not produce continuous video of a person's movements through the city and does not reveal where someone went after passing a camera. He also noted operational constraints — roughly 850,000 images enter the system weekly because of traffic volume — and said the department uses Flock as a search engine rather than a live monitoring feed.

The council has discussed the parameters of data sharing and whether to restrict access to federal agencies; Holmes said he is not categorically opposed to sharing because it can aid the apprehension of fugitives, but recognized community concerns about immigration enforcement and surveillance. He said safeguards and written policies govern access and that patrol officers can receive alerts in real time if a vehicle of interest passes a camera.

The council's next steps on data‑sharing policy were not specified on the program; Holmes said the issue "has been discussed" but did not state a final policy change or vote outcome.

The department continues to pair Flock searches with other investigative resources and to present the technology and accompanying safeguards to local officials and residents to address privacy questions.