{"id":288053,"date":"2026-07-10T14:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T18:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/10\/westland-to-remove-flock-safety-license-plate-cameras-after-privacy-concerns\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T14:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T18:45:08","slug":"westland-to-remove-flock-safety-license-plate-cameras-after-privacy-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/10\/westland-to-remove-flock-safety-license-plate-cameras-after-privacy-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Westland to remove Flock safety license plate cameras after privacy concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Westland to remove Flock safety license plate cameras after privacy concerns<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/local\/2026\/07\/10\/westland-to-remove-flock-safety-license-plate-cameras-after-privacy-concerns\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-07-10 14:15:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.clickondetroit.com<\/a><\/p>\n

WESTLAND, Mich.<\/strong> \u2013 Westland will remove its 10 Flock Safety license plate-reading cameras when the city\u2019s contract expires at the end of the month, following resident criticism and a split among city leaders over privacy, data access and the technology\u2019s role in policing.<\/p>\n

The cameras, located mainly around Ford Road, capture license plates and vehicle information that police can search when investigating crimes.<\/p>\n

Westland City Councilwoman Melissa Sampey said recent council meetings drew repeated public comments questioning whether the technology is worth the cost and what it means for privacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really became apparent that the community was against it,\u201d Sampey said.<\/p>\n

Police Chief Kyle Dawley decided not to bring a renewal contract to the Westland City Council for approval. In a statement, the Westland Police Department said discussions with council members about how the cameras are used showed the council is \u201cdeeply split on this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sampey said the controversy mainly centered around who can access the data.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe access of the information of your license plate follows you any place that you go that has a Flock camera, and anyone can access it from basically any police station across the country,\u201d Sampey said, adding that she had the chance to view the software herself.<\/p>\n

City Council President Mike McDermott said he initially supported a two-year trial but now believes that vote was a mistake. <\/p>\n

In a statement, McDermott said he opposes continued use of the cameras, citing privacy and constitutional concerns, including worries about corporate data-sharing practices and access by outside agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n

McDermott also credited residents and local advocacy groups, including DeFlock Michigan and the Socialists of Western-Wayne, for repeatedly raising concerns at council meetings. While he acknowledged police view the cameras as a useful investigative tool, he said residents shouldn\u2019t \u201cbe monitored everywhere we…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Westland to remove Flock safety license plate cameras after privacy concerns https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/local\/2026\/07\/10\/westland-to-remove-flock-safety-license-plate-cameras-after-privacy-concerns\/ Publish Date: 2026-07-10…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":288054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/graham-media-group\/image\/upload\/f_auto\/q_auto\/c_thumb,w_700\/v1\/media\/video\/wdiv\/9d68e94e-4438-4a44-81e3-91678383e449\/image.jpg?_a=DATAg1kSZAA0","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-288053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288053"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288055,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288053\/revisions\/288055"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}