‘Easy money to cut’: Itasca County removes Flock cameras, cancels contracts

GRAND RAPIDS — Itasca County authorities have removed all Flock Safety cameras under county jurisdiction.

Itasca County Commissioner Terry Snyder confirmed Tuesday, Sept. 15, the county took down its remaining automatic license plate readers. It also canceled all contracts with Flock Safety.

Itasca County operated over a dozen automatic license plate reader cameras across the county, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Emma Krab

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KAXE

"Several citizens had questions about the Flock cameras," Snyder said. "'What are they?' 'Are they still up?' So yeah, Itasca County has canceled our contract with that and all of our cameras are down."

Snyder first broke the news to Wabana Township residents during a Coffee with Commissioners event Thursday, Sept. 10.

Flock Safety produces automatic license plate reader cameras, or ALPRs, that have become commonplace surveillance devices for law enforcement. Many ALPR systems today use artificial intelligence to process license plate images into data files.

Public opposition against ALPRs has grown in the last few years, with opponents citing concerns about data security and personal rights.

Snyder said these concerns contributed to the removal of the Itasca County cameras.

"It grew into something much larger, that wasn't as beneficial, that people could see as maybe an infringement on their rights," he said. "The last thing we want to do is to portray that image."

According to Itasca County Sheriff Joe Dasovich, the county only possessed around five cameras at the time of removal after some were cut down or vandalized. Dasovich said Flock Safety wanted Itasca County to pay for new cameras following the incidents, further straining the office's relationship with the company.

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Dasovich called the contracts and cameras "easy money to cut."

"These companies mine data, and we don't know what data it is or who they sell it to," he said. "We knew what data that we were provided by Flock and how valuable that was to law enforcement, but we were unsure what the company was doing with other data that it was collecting."

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Marshall Helmberger / The Timberjay

Local News

St. Louis County ends Flock camera pilot project

Marshall Helmberger | The Timberjay

Flock should have cameras removed “in the coming days." Concern locally was consistent with growing nationwide opposition to use of the devices.

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Snyder said residents may still see cameras belonging to other law enforcement agencies.

According to the BCA, the Grand Rapids Police Department operates nine ALPRs within city limits.

The department did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

In August, neighboring St. Louis County ended its Flock camera pilot project. The city of Duluth had earlier announced it would end its contract as of Sept. 7.

Other Minnesota agencies made similar decisions in recent weeks and months, including the police departments at the University of Minnesota, in St. Paul and in Winona. The Winona Police Department made the decision not to replace any of its cameras after all eight it operated were stolen.