News photo by Kayla Wikaryasz Alpena County Undersheriff Cash Kroll is seen presenting at the monthly Alpena County Finance, Ways, and Means committee meeting, on Tuesday. County commissioners voted 5-2 against the purchase of flock cameras for the Alpena County Sheriff’s Office.

ALPENA — The Alpena County Commissioners voted against adding flock cameras in the community.

A Flock camera is a solar-powered, high-definition Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) system, typically used by law enforcement, neighborhood associations, and businesses to enhance security. These cameras capture images of license plates and vehicle details in real-time to help solve crimes and locate stolen vehicles.

At the board’s monthly Finance, Ways, and Means committee meeting, a motion to approve the purchase of flock cameras in the community failed with a 5-2 vote.

In November, the Alpena County Sheriff’s Office first brought the consideration to the Courts and Public Safety Committee.

According to Alpena County Sheriff Erik Smith, the cameras would not be monitored at all times and would only be used in criminal investigations. The office planned to purchase 10 cameras to use throughout the county using grant funding. No general fund money would be used on the project.

On Tuesday, Alpena County Undersheriff Cash Kroll asked for commissioners’ approval to purchase the cameras. He explained that the cameras are used to identify suspects’ vehicles. He said that in the case of a major crime, Alpena County could issue an alert and have access to cameras throughout the state to track down the suspect.

Kroll added that the flock cameras do not hold data in “some database for months or years.”

He added that data collected is only accessible for up to 30 days.

Kroll explained that the flock cameras are facilitated through a third-party entity, per one-year contracts. If at any time the board decided to quit funding the contract, the third-party would likely take the cameras back.

“If you don’t fund it, they’ll just take the cameras back … that’s our understanding,” he said.

Board Chairman John Kozlowski expressed concern regarding the privacy rights and how data would be stored and accessed. He also noted concerns that residents may have with being surveilled, though he personally finds no issue with the surveillance.

“I don’t care … I’m out on a public street and a camera takes a picture of me and I’m not doing anything … I don’t really care,” Kozlowski said. “I don’t know what information that could be gathered that could be beneficial to them and are a concern to me.”

Kroll clarified that Alpena County would have to give permission for a third-party to access the data gathered. “They have to actually request permission to view our camera, so that’s not an automatic,” Kroll said.

County Commissioner Todd Britton expressed concern regarding the cameras and stated that his problem lies with a third-party entity facilitating the usage of the cameras and data. He added that if the cameras and data were housed completely within Alpena County, he wouldn’t have as much of an issue with the purchase.

“This is a digital world,” Smith interjected during the meeting. “There’s no difference if we have a crime … go to businesses and grab their camera footage and use it for identifying suspects. It’s the same stuff.”

Smith added that “if we’re worried about the data being used, you better put your cell phones away … it’s a crazy world.”

Britton claimed that the flock cameras are “effectively a warrantless surveillance” and an attempt of government entities and/or authorities to overpolice. He used the storming of the Capital Building in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021 as an example.

“There was 270-some informants or people on the payroll that were involved in that whole thing, which led to 1,500 people getting incarcerated where most of those people should have never gotten incarcerated,” Britton said.

“Once you put those cameras in place, the same government that does that stuff has access to that information,” he added. “That’s why I have absolutely no use for this.”

Britton said that he’d support adding more police officers to the Sheriff’s Office staff over adding cameras.

For context, Smith added that the cameras would be placed in locations such as 65-South and “not at the front of the courthouse trying to gather people’s information.”

County Commissioner Lucille Bray said that she isn’t concerned about the cameras or their usage.

“The way my life is right now I like having people watching out for me,” she said.

Kroll said that he understood the concerns of some of the commissioners and noted the potential of misuse.

“I think, no matter what, we’re not immune to malicious intent,” Kroll said. “There are bad actors in every profession and I’m sure we have them in ours.”

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.