Milford Village Council votes 7-0 to end Flock license plate camera contract
Milford's remaining 10 Flock license plate cameras will come down when the contract expires at the end of October, after the police chief himself asked the council to cancel.
By OCJ Staff
The Milford Village Council voted 7-0 Monday, Oct. 5, to end its contracts with Flock Safety, meaning the village's remaining 10 automated license plate reader cameras will be removed when the agreement expires at the end of October.
The request to cancel came from Police Chief Scott Tarasiewicz, not from the council's critics. Tarasiewicz said the cameras have been a useful tool, helping solve crimes and locate missing persons, but cited what he described as poor customer service from the company and slow responses when cameras were damaged or vandalized.
"We've just had issues on the back end," Tarasiewicz said, according to WDIV. "I don't believe that Flock is the correct partner for us," he said, according to The Detroit News.
Two contracts, both ending
Milford approved 10 cameras in 2023 and added five more in 2024, according to WDIV. The village had two contracts:
- Five cameras at $18,250 a year, which the council declined to renew in June. Those cameras were removed.
- Ten cameras at $36,500 a year, set to expire at the end of October.
Residents pushed back
The vote followed months of resident opposition. Jeff Garner was part of a group that held weekly protests and circulated a petition with more than 600 signatures. He questioned whether the cameras' broad reach was worth the privacy trade-off, WDIV reported.
Council President Pro Tem James Kovach said feedback from residents and visitors was "overwhelmingly against the Flock cameras."
Not every resident who spoke wanted the cameras gone. Dean Burklund suggested legislation to make sure "they're used appropriately," and Marianne Uhazie said the cameras could be "a good idea with more regulation," according to WDIV.
What's next
The fight may not be over. Tarasiewicz said he expects to return to the council with a request to contract with a different license plate reader vendor. He spoke highly of Axon, which already supplies the department's body cameras, according to The Detroit News.
Taya Lyons, a Waterford Township activist who opposes Flock, said critics "will be back" if other plate-reader vendors appear on future meeting agendas.
Milford joins a growing list of Oakland County communities that have stepped back from Flock. Ferndale, Clawson and Independence Township previously dropped the company, and South Lyon's City Council voted last month to end its contract.
For residents, the immediate effect is that Flock cameras in the village will stop operating when the contract runs out at the end of the month. Any proposal for a replacement system would have to come back before the council.
This story uses reporting from WDIV ClickOnDetroit and The Detroit News via GovTech.