The Detroit Police Department (DPD) routinely utilizes Flock Safety’s license plate cameras as a standard investigative tool, with hundreds of these always-on devices deployed throughout the city. This technology records passing vehicles, collecting information such as color and license plate numbers. The City of Detroit shares this gathered data with numerous other departments across the metro area. Publicly available data, compiled by the website FlockWatch, indicates that Detroit officers searched Flock camera networks at least 26,330 times between June 2025 and May 2026, averaging more than 78 searches daily. These searches often routed to camera networks located outside of Michigan. Data suggests DPD officers primarily use the system to locate stolen cars or missing persons. The city's contract with Flock Safety for these services is valued at $6.25 million and extends through 2029.
According to the volunteer-run website DeFlock, the DPD operates a total of 449 license plate reader cameras. Roughly half of these are Flock cameras, approximately a third are from Motorola Solutions, and the remaining cameras are from Genetec. While motor vehicle theft was cited as the most common specific reason for DPD searches, officers frequently provided vague or unclear reasons, often simply categorizing searches as “investigation.” The contract grants DPD access to a national network of cameras, with Detroit police searches reaching devices operated by nine police agencies in seven different states. Tens of thousands of these cross-state searches were largely categorized as “lookup” for license plate numbers. However, a few dozen utilized FreeForm, a Flock product that allows for broad searches using descriptive language, like “Camo hat, forest green sweater,” and combines artificial intelligence with cross-agency access.
The widespread deployment and use of this technology have prompted questions from residents and civil liberties groups concerning its benefits compared to its potential for misuse. Tawana Petty, a digital and data justice organizer and lifelong Detroiter, expressed apprehension that the Flock network “advances the city’s trajectory as a panoptic city,” adding that this is particularly dangerous amid rising authoritarianism and racial violence across the country. DPD spokesperson Jackson Vidaurri stated that many cases have progressed and been solved due to this technology, though he did not provide specific data to substantiate this claim.
In a 2023 transparency filing, the DPD asserted that license plate readers do not infringe on constitutionally protected information. The department clarified that officers are prohibited from using the technology to enforce traffic or immigration law and cannot integrate it with facial recognition technology. Mandatory penalties are in place for officers found to misuse the cameras. The DPD policy is to delete Flock data after 30 days unless it is actively being used for an ongoing investigation. While it remains unclear whether the Flock network has directly reduced overall crime in Detroit or led to a significant increase in solved crimes, the department’s clearance rate for car thefts—the most common specific reason for DPD Flock searches—reportedly saw a slight uptick after the city expanded its camera network in 2024. This rate increased from 4.1% of thefts cleared in the two years prior to the Flock contract to 5.1% since it took effect, according to an analysis of FBI crime data.
An incident on January 21 illustrated the technology’s practical application when a Detroit officer utilized the Flock network to search for a vehicle whose driver fled after an attempted stop for a broken taillight. The search indicated the car was “frequently” in the area where the stop occurred. This single incident accounted for two of 30 Flock searches conducted by Detroit officers that day. Conversely, the technology has also faced criticism over its potential for misuse. The nonprofit Institute for Justice documented 236 cases since 2018 where automated license plate readers were misused, with officers across the country using the technology to track former or current romantic partners being a common form of abuse. The technology has also demonstrated a propensity for error; in 2023, Detroit police improperly relied on a license plate reader, leading to the detention of a woman and her two-year-old son with autism, which resulted in a $35,000 settlement.
Gabrielle Dresner, a policy strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, articulated broader privacy concerns, noting that a statewide surveillance network could reveal sensitive personal information about where people live, work, and spend their time. She questioned the trade-off between privacy and perceived safety. Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based company, did not respond to a request for comment. The company has faced criticism regarding its products and conduct, including reports of teaching police to surveil protesters, misrepresenting whether its cameras record video (they do), and developing features to find people instead of just vehicles. This backlash has led to hundreds of cities across the U.S. to reject or terminate contracts with Flock, and cameras in the metro Detroit area have also been vandalized. Legislation introduced in Michigan this year aims to limit how police use license plate readers and to regulate the storage of collected data.
