Front Page News

Flock cameras not wanted in Marquette

MARQUETTE -- Don't expect any of those controversial Flock cameras to show up in the city of Marquette anytime soon, or perhaps, ever.

That's because Marquette's top cop, Chief of Police , said the cameras, often solar-powered and positioned on highways to snap photos of passing vehicles, are not needed.

"I believe my officers can handle that," Grim said, noting he, as chief, had been contacted by camera manufacturers Flock Safety of Atlanta, Georgia. "There is no taste in the city of Marquette for them."

The cameras, often referred to as automated license plate readers, have been the subject of complaints nationally, and even regionally, by citizens who worry about potential invasions of privacy.

In Dickinson County, for example, a local narcotics enforcement team had purchased and installed an unknown number of the cameras on roadways there, using drug forfeiture monies, before local residents complained.

Additionally, according to reporting from the Iron Mountain Daily News, an online petition was started. Reportedly the cameras were going to be removed and the narcotics team, which credited the cameras with helping remove $50,000 in drugs from the area, had discontinued its contract with the manufacturer.

Meanwhile, according to Bridge Michigan cited in recent Daily News reporting, ALPRs are deployed across more than 125 municipal and county law enforcement agencies in the state.

Flock Safety’s 2025 impact census covering 700 law enforcement agencies showed that the technology assisted in solving 20% of cleared cases, helped locate more than 10,000 missing persons and contributed significantly to stolen vehicle recoveries across the country.

"They might be helpful in some investigations," Grim said. "But we're not ... interested."