TV6 Investigates: Dickinson County law enforcement discontinues the use of Flock Cameras
The short version: Dickinson County, Michigan law enforcement pulled the plug on Flock ALPR cameras, and TV6 Investigates dug into why — a rare case of a community pushing back and winning.
Our Take
Credit to TV6 & FOX UP (WLUC) for actually following up on a Flock rollout instead of just running the company's press release. Most local coverage of these systems starts and ends with a police chief promising safer streets. This time, Dickinson County officials walked the cameras back, and that reversal is the real story — because it proves these contracts aren't as permanent as Flock likes to pretend.
We don't know the full internal reasoning from the clip alone, so we won't guess at motives beyond what's reported. But the pattern is familiar: a sheriff's office signs on, cameras go up quietly, and only later do cost, effectiveness, or public concern catch up with the decision. Whether it was budget, data-sharing worries, or plain public pressure, the outcome matters more than the excuse — a rural Michigan county decided the surveillance wasn't worth keeping.
Every rollback is proof that these systems are political choices, not inevitabilities. If your county has Flock or similar ALPR gear running right now, check our camera map to see what's nearby, and use our take-action guide to push your local board to ask the same questions Dickinson County apparently just answered.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Upper Michigan's Source | TV6 & FOX UP, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.