OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — The Oshkosh Common Council rescinded its contract with Flock Safety after learning the company's automated license plate readers can create "heatmaps" to track daily driving patterns.
Oshkosh Police Chief Dean Smith notified council members on Wednesday that statements from Flock were inconsistent regarding the capabilities of their automated license plate readers, or ALPRs.
"The trust was shaken," Joseph Stephenson said.
Stephenson, an Oshkosh Common Council member, initially approved an extension for Flock but changed his position on Wednesday.
"Many of us were under the impression that the system's capabilities were more limited in scope and functionality," Stephenson said.
The inconsistency centers on Flock's ability to create heatmaps, which can average out where a vehicle travels most on a day-to-day basis.
"Yes, so you would be able to see on a map kind of which camera someone's going by most frequently," Stephenson said.
Josh Thomas, chief communications officer at Flock Safety, confirmed the system's mapping capabilities.
"That is true. Yeah, that's a mapping tool that does let you see when did this license plate pass by specific cameras at that one point in time during that 30-day window of the data retention," Thomas said.
Despite the concerns, Flock maintains that its technology provides significant benefits to the city.
"Our technology was used in the city of Oshkosh to help catch the most wanted murder suspect in the state of Wisconsin," Thomas said.
Oshkosh Common Council Member Paul Esslinger noted that while the city is moving away from Flock, it is still considering other ALPR systems.
"Now, he's not saying that we shouldn't do the cameras. He's gonna go back and look at other vendors that have similar products and services," Esslinger said.
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