Kontos Column: What the Flock are you talking about?

By Dan Kontos

One of the areas that law enforcement really doesn’t like to talk about are automatic license plate readers (ALPRs). Not because there is anything wrong with them, but back in the day, it was better to allow these tools to run in the background, without unnecessarily alerting criminals to their presence.

The most commonly referred to brand is the Flock Safety variety. These “Flock cameras” are now a commonplace item of discussion in the public, and the news, and I think it’s time to dispel some of the rampant myths around these devices.

Law enforcement’s use of ALPR cameras has become the latest Rorschach test for how we feel about government, technology, and crime. Some people look at a metal box on a pole and see Big Brother. Others look at the same box and see one more way to keep the bad guys from treating our streets like their personal playground. In Portage County, that little box has already become part of the landscape.

If you haven’t been paying attention, you’re not alone. These cameras didn’t arrive with sirens blaring and with lavish ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Stevens Point and Plover Police have been using license plate readers for years, and the Portage County Sheriff’s Office dabbled with these more than a decade ago, before rejoining the party again in 2024.

They sit at strategic locations, and often operate intrinsically as part of a squad car’s onboard video camera system, noticing what most of us can’t possibly see. Not for having a political bumper sticker. For being stolen, tied to a warrant, or linked to serious crime.

This is where the conversation usually goes sideways.

Opponents frame these cameras as “mass surveillance,” a phrase guaranteed to get people’s blood pressure up. It’s true that Wisconsin has seen controversy, and there have been sporadic reports of misuse in the news. Those stories are real, and they absolutely deserve scrutiny. Those bad apples were caught tracking a cheating spouse, stalking their ex, or other similar misuse. They were detected, fired, and even prosecuted. The answer is strict policy, audit logs, discipline, and, when necessary, criminal charges. That’s exactly what’s happening now.

But here is the part that conveniently gets buried.  The same technology has been credited with catching murder suspects, hit-and-run drivers, armed offenders, and wanted fugitives who otherwise would have vanished into traffic. Remember the Amber Alert last September where a six-year-old was allegedly abducted by her uncle? That case was solved, in part, through the use of these cameras.

Routinely, here in Portage County, ALPRs are responsible for capturing fugitives, locating subjects of amber and silver alerts, finding suicidal people, and solving tons of crimes.

Let’s bust a couple of myths. ALPRs don’t have any special powers. They do not have facial recognition technology. They cannot identify who is in the car. They won’t phone your spouse that you’re coming home from the bars late. They merely take a photo of your car and license plate. The same thing any officer can do from a squad car.

There is a tendency in Wisconsin right now to treat every story about ALPRs as proof that the whole concept is rotten. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a bigger advocate for privacy and liberty than me.  I certainly think that a bit of skepticism is healthy, and blind trust in any technology is not. But skepticism does not have to mean abandonment.

In Portage County, the realistic choice doesn’t include perfect privacy and a police cruiser stuck in the 1980s. We already live in a world where cameras are ubiquitous.  They sit watching gas pumps, ATMs, convenience stores, and every smartphone in nearly every pocket. Think you’re not being watched? Think again. Are you familiar with stores using facial recognition technology to track you when you shop?

The question is whether we allow law enforcement to use a tool that sees nothing the human eye could not see from the sidewalk, and then turns that raw observation into something useful. These cameras aren’t capturing anything that the naked eye wouldn’t see just standing by the road.

There is no invasion of privacy. Everything is in plain sight. It’s just a fairly new technology that simply evaluates information faster than humans can do by themselves. The message is clear. The tool itself has real value. The challenge is using it with the right guardrails. Here in Portage County, that is where our energy should go.

Self-proclaimed freedom fighters who disable these camera systems are not striking a blow to the Man, and saving us from Big Brother. They are criminals and vandals. Not only are they damaging property that isn’t theirs, but they are actively hindering law enforcement from doing their job. They are siding with the criminals, and letting endangered people slip away. They too should be prosecuted, and they are.

If we want limits, we should insist on them. Clear retention rules, tight controls on who can access data and when, full transparency about outside agency access, and public reporting on how often these systems help solve cases. Vigilante destruction is not the answer.

These benefits are not just theoretical. They are the stolen car found before it becomes a getaway vehicle. They are the hit-and-run suspect identified before the victim’s case goes cold. They are the wanted fugitive who fails to slip past law enforcement unnoticed.

Let’s be honest. Law-abiding drivers don’t experience these cameras the same way criminals do. If your plate isn’t tied to a crime, the system barely notices you. If it is, you suddenly have a bigger problem. That’s exactly how it should work. We say we want safe streets, but safe streets are built by using modern and legal tools like this, not from hand wringing, ignorance, and nostalgia.

Wisconsin can keep having a conversation about vendors, contracts, and oversight. It should. But if we let ourselves be scared away from effective technology by worst-case headlines and online rumors, we will be choosing optics over outcomes.

The cameras are already here. The real question is whether we will use them with clarity and courage, or unplug them and pretend that solves something.

So, with that, let’s meet in the opinion section to talk about all of it, boldly, honestly, with an appreciation for all our public servants, and with a healthy respect for the rights of each other. Until then, remember that God loves you, and so do I.