Flock Cameras in Michigan: Rogers' Surveillance Claim Challenged

Our Take

Credit to the Flock Off channel for catching this: when a U.S. Senate candidate's comments on automated license plate readers become opposition-research fodder, that's a sign the surveillance debate has finally broken out of planning commission meetings and into statewide politics. Whatever the partisan motives behind the back-and-forth between Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers, the underlying question deserves scrutiny regardless of who's asking it: what do these camera networks actually do, who has access to the data, and how long does it stick around?

We'd rather see candidates get specific than score points. "Surveillance" isn't a vibe — it's a database of every plate that rolls past a Flock camera, often shared across departments and states with little public oversight. If a Senate candidate is going to make a claim about ALPRs one way or the other, voters deserve to know whether that claim matches how these systems are actually deployed in Michigan communities right now.

That's exactly the gap we try to fill. Check our camera map to see what's already watching Michigan's roads, and if you want your city council or state lawmakers to answer the same questions these candidates are dodging, our take-action page has a place to start.