Saginaw Township police launch transparency portal on Flock Safety cameras

Our Take

Mid-Michigan NOW (FOX66/NBC25) reports that Saginaw Township police have rolled out an online portal meant to show residents how their Flock Safety ALPR cameras get used. On paper, that sounds like progress — most departments that deploy this gear say nothing at all. But we'd ask readers to look closely at what these portals actually disclose. Usually it's aggregate search counts and vague use-case categories, not who requested a lookup, why, or whether out-of-state agencies and federal partners pulled plate data through Flock's network. A dashboard can create the appearance of oversight while leaving the real questions — audit trails, data retention, interagency sharing — completely unanswered.

This matters because these portals are becoming the standard move for police departments facing pushback on mass license plate surveillance: offer a polished transparency page instead of binding policy limits, independent audits, or council-level oversight. It's a PR tool as much as a public record. Residents should be asking Saginaw Township for the underlying audit logs, not just the summary numbers on a webpage, and should push for real retention limits and a published list of every agency with access.

Check our camera map to see what's already deployed near you, and use our take-action page if you want to push your local council for real accountability instead of a dashboard.