Fond du Lac, Wis — The Fond du Lac County law enforcement agencies with fixed-mounted Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology, provided by our vendor Flock, are discontinuing their use county-wide, effective immediately. This decision follows the discovery that search data from our Flock systems, including records tied to active investigations, was disclosed to the public by law enforcement agencies in other states in response to open records requests they received, making it accessible nationwide.
Fond du Lac County law enforcement agencies did not authorize the release of this data, as under Wisconsin state statutes, records pertaining to active investigations are exempt from public disclosure.
The loss of control over our own investigative data, combined with concerns over how quickly Flock’s technology has expanded beyond traditional plate-reading systems, has led Fond du Lac County law enforcement agencies to conclude that continuing the program at this time is not appropriate.
Protecting our communities remains our collective mission, and we will continue to use every appropriate tool available to do that. However, maintaining the public’s trust is a critical part of that mission. That is why, when a tool no longer meets the standard our community deserves, we will say so and act on it.
Investigative data protections, to include protections for ALPR systems, ensure sensitive information about victims, survivors, witnesses, juveniles, confidential sources, and suspects is kept confidential. Unauthorized disclosure through open records requests can compromise an investigation, put the public at risk, expose victims to further harm, or interfere with our ability to hold offenders accountable.
Because Flock’s search logs are shared across a nationwide network of participating agencies, data captured in Fond du Lac County was subject to other state agencies’ records decisions, and those decisions were made without our knowledge or consent. The nationwide network exists as criminals oftentimes do not operate within one state’s jurisdictional boundaries, but it also means our investigative data was governed by policies outside our control.
Since implementing Flock systems in our communities, we instituted county-wide protocols, including training all users, requiring documented justification before every search, and conducting regular audits with both automated and administrator-led reviews. These protocols were designed to ensure the system was used legally and only for legitimate law enforcement purposes.
The technology itself has helped us apprehend dangerous criminals including homicide and shooting suspects, child sex-trafficking suspects, drug traffickers, and stalkers. It has also helped locate missing, suicidal, and endangered people, including trafficking victims. We’ve heard directly from residents grateful for those outcomes, and we’ve heard from others with real concerns about privacy and oversight. Both perspectives are valid, and both factored into this decision. Individual privacy rights must be protected as this technology continues to evolve.
We are fully discontinuing use of Flock systems effective immediately. The ability to conduct searches on our system has ended as of today, and covers are being installed over the lens of every camera to prevent further image capture.
To be clear, our confidence in our officers’ use of this tool hasn’t changed. What changed was the realization that once our data leaves our respective agencies, we cannot guarantee how it’s handled elsewhere. That is not a risk we’re willing to accept without stronger safeguards in place.
Going forward, we will continue to monitor emerging legal frameworks, accountability standards, and best practices for ALPR and similar technologies. We will reconsider use of these tools again if there are clear safeguards and measures in place to oversee how shared ALPR data is used, stored, accessed, and disclosed by other jurisdictions, and uphold our agencies’ values.
Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt – Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office
Chief Aaron Goldstein – Fond du Lac Police Department
Chief Jeremy Rasch – Waupun Police Department
Chief Bill Wallner – Ripon Police Department
Chief Pete Vergos – North Fond du Lac Police Department
