LETTER: Remove Flock cameras until privacy rights are protected

To Ozaukee Press:

I’m writing on behalf of the residents who live closest to Port Washington’s Flock camera installations, the people whose daily movements are being tracked, stored and shared without meaningful oversight. These neighbors didn’t ask for this surveillance, and many of them don’t even know how far their data travels once it leaves our city limits.

Over the past year, multiple Wisconsin news outlets have reported serious issues with Flock cameras across the state, including misidentifications, wrongful stops and police departments accessing data far outside their jurisdiction. 

Some articles also highlighted how Flock’s system allows law enforcement agencies to share license‑plate data with hundreds of other departments automatically, often without residents’ knowledge or consent. That means a single drive to Walmart from Port Washington can become part of a statewide, or even nationwide, tracking network.

And now, the situation has become even more alarming. In mid‑September, a hacker collective physically removed a Flock camera and exposed 1.6 million images, 27,321 video clips and an unencrypted encryption key stored directly on the device, contradicting Flock’s public claims about device security. 

The footage included weeks of vehicle travel, images of persons and detailed movement patterns. If a single stolen camera can reveal that much data, imagine the risk posed by an entire network.

This is not safety, this is surveillance. And it is surveillance that has already harmed innocent people. In Wisconsin, Flock alerts have led to wrongful stops, questioning and residents being flagged simply because the system matched the wrong vehicle. Once that data is captured, it can be stored for weeks and shared broadly, even when no crime has occurred.

Port Washington prides itself on being a community where neighbors look out for one another, not a community where residents feel watched or monitored. The people living closest to these cameras are carrying the greatest burden, and they deserve protection from unnecessary data collection and the risks that come with it.

I am asking the Common Council to remove the Flock cameras and to pause any future surveillance expansion until we have clear, transparent policies that protect residents’ privacy, prevent misuse and ensure that no outside agency can access our community’s data without strict oversight.

Safety should never come at the cost of civil liberties. Port Washington can do better, and I’m asking our leaders to choose a path that protects both our community and our rights.

Tracy Finch

Port Washington