Salina Police Defend Flock Cameras As Privacy Concerns Grow Nationwide

In December of 2024, the Salina City Commission voted unanimously to accept a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to buy 22 outdoor cameras from the Leonardo Company.

That 5-0 vote was part of the commission’s “Consent Agenda,” typically reserved for non-controversial items; other items on the consent agenda that night included approving the minutes of the previous meeting and accepting a donation of seven sculptures for the city’s art collection.

After all, the city already had a contract with a company called Flock Safety Systems for similar hardware, installed around the city in 2023, and had been using similar “Automated License Plate Readers” for several years before that.

But when it came time this summer to renew the contract with Flock for another three years for $198,000, the issue was anything but mundane, with more than a dozen people speaking out against the program at the June 1 City Commission meeting, citing concerns about privacy, use of the data — and abuse of the data by officers around the country.

In the end, the commission voted 4-1 to renew the contract, with Commissioner Doug Rempp voting against.

That community opposition reflects a rising tide across the country — and it’s not limited to mostly polite discussion in city council chambers.

On August 4, all eight of the Flock cameras in the city of Winona, Wisconsin, were stolen, and hundreds of such cameras from Flock and other companies have been stolen, damaged or destroyed across the U.S. this year.

A week later — even though Flock replaces cameras for free — the City of Winona decided to cancel its contract with the company.

“While Flock has been a valuable tool, we believe its use has contributed to growing concerns about trust in policing, both locally and across the state and nation,” the Winona Police Department stated in an Aug. 12 press release. “After careful consideration, Winona PD has decided not to reinstall any Flock cameras in the City of Winona. Our commitment is simple: protecting our community while maintaining the trust that makes that work possible.”

With that move, Winona joined a growing number of jurisdictions either rejecting ALPR systems or cancelling current contracts: According to the website deflock.org, nearly 150 cities have taken such action — more than 100 in 2026, and 49 in August alone.

In Salina, Police Chief C.J. Wise has heard the concerns about the technology, both nationally and from Salinans. Thursday, he met with representatives from local news organizations, not only to answer questions about the cameras — but also to listen.

Police Captain Kyle Tonniges, who administers the Flock system locally, explained that since 2023, the system has played a part in:

108 criminal investigations,  75 arrests,  18 stolen vehicles recovered, and over $371,000 in stolen property recovered

What makes this new generation of systems so useful is that they collect way more than just camera footage; every vehicle passing a camera has its license plate photographed, read by the company’s AI system, and stored in a searchable database, typically for 30 days. The cameras and the AI system can also record a vehicle’s make, model, color, any collision damage, and even bumper stickers.

Wise and Tonniges acknowledged there have been cases around the country where law enforcement officers have misused the data, mostly to track the movements of former girlfriends or ex-wives. Just last week in Lufkin, Texas, an officer was indicted on 100 separate counts of misusing the city’s Flock information.

However, they say there have been no such cases in Salina, and Tonniges regularly audits the searches officers make.

As part of its response to the backlash, Flock recently announced it’s requiring case numbers as part of the information officers must enter when searching the company’s database.

Tonniges said Salina has required case numbers for all searches since the system was implemented in 2023. In addition, he performs a monthly audit of searches.

And after hearing concerns at that June 1 commission meeting, he has started taking deeper “spot checks” of searches to ensure they’re for a valid law enforcement purpose.

Also, Flock has implemented an AI system to look for and flag unusual patterns in database searches, and plans to shorten the time most data is stored from 30 days to 7.

Figuring out how to incorporate new technology into law enforcement while protecting people’s constitutional rights and maintaining public trust isn’t a new problem, Wise said.

He recalled when he was a police sergeant in Edmond, Oklahoma, and he found out officers were scrolling through the cellphones of people they were arresting.

“I wouldn’t let my guys do it,” Wise said. “It didn’t feel right,” and it wasn’t long before the U.S. Supreme Court would rule that such searches do require a search warrant.

When a case involving the constitutionality of ALPR systems eventually gets decided by the Supreme Court, Wise believes the systems will be found legal under “Plain View” doctrine, which says people have no expectation of privacy when out in public.

He acknowledged there are competing legal theories, such as “Mosaic,” which says that while collecting information such as a person’s location is legal, tracking a person’s location over a period of time crosses the line.

“Mapping out your pattern of life would be unconstitutional,” he said.

Wise said he welcomes additional discussion with the community and hopes to put down rumors about what the system does and how it’s used.

“It’s a good tool, but it’s just a tool,” he said. “None of this is worth it” if it affects community trust.