OPPOSITION TO LICENSE PLATE READERS IN PLATTE CITY
by Stacy Wiedmaier
Landmark reporter
The national debate over Flock Safety cameras has migrated to Platte City.
More than 25 residents gathered to voice their questions, concerns and opposition to the automated license plate reader cameras scattered across town during the public comment section at a recent Platte City Board of Aldermen meeting.
The Platte City Police Department currently utilizes three Flock cameras on city roadways. Another was installed in Riverview Park to provide needed surveillance for combating recent vandalism. Plans for another camera to track property damage at Rising Star Park’s splash pad have been put on hold.
The roadway cameras began operating in September 2025, while the Riverview Park camera contract began in March 2026. Both are one-year contracts.
Police Chief Jeff Wilson called the Flock camera systems “a very effective tool for law enforcement.”
“The board and myself have the same goal, and that’s a safe community,” he said. “We want to respect people’s privacy — these are not competing goals, they can be done together.”
He said the camera systems are one of multiple investigative tools his department uses. They are strategically placed where vehicles come in and out of the city. Although they cannot prevent crime, Wilson said they are a tool they can utilize to investigate crimes.
Wilson explained the cameras are not constantly monitoring people, but instead “taking snapshots in time of passing vehicle’s license plates.”
The cameras also pick up certain characteristics of these cars, such as make, model and color. The cameras are not equipped with facial recognition technology and cannot capture the driver or other occupants of the vehicle, the chief said.
Contrary to opponent’s claims, Wilson asserted the department is not recording people’s daily activities.
“A vast, vast, vast majority of information recorded will never be accessed,” Wilson said. “The data is pulled only if, and when, there’s a legitimate law enforcement investigative purpose. Access to information is limited to authorized users and all searches and system activity are recorded through comprehensive audit logs. These logs provide accountability and allow supervisors to review system usage.”
Wilson said he has already seen the benefits of this technology and hopes the city continues to maintain the tool. He named several recent instances where Flock cameras were utilized to help investigate crimes, including the case where five commercial burglaries occurred in one night. Flock data was also used to assist in the location of a senior during a recent Silver Alert. It is regularly used to assist in the investigations of stolen property and burglary calls.
Wilson called the use of Flock cameras part of a “constant, regional effort to keep our communities safe.”
The Platte County Sheriff’s Office has a total of five cameras, including one that was recently stolen. Their initial agreement with Flock was signed in May 2023, but the cameras were not installed until later that fall.
Multiple cities in Platte County also operate Flock cameras, including Parkville and Tracy.
The City of Weston recently did away with its Flock Safety cameras. Following months of intense pushback and packed city council meetings from residents concerned about privacy and surveillance, the board of aldermen voted in April to cancel a $45,000 contract and remove the automated license plate readers.
Surrounding areas using Flock technology include MCI Airport, Atchison County, Buchanan County, Clay County, Gladstone, Leavenworth, Liberty and Pleasant Valley.
Several private businesses and homeowners associations in the area also utilize the cameras as well.
Both the city and Platte County Sheriff’s Department provided The Landmark with copies of their Flock Safety system policies. The city’s policy prohibits using the data collected for generalized surveillance of lawful activities and for personal, political, or non-law-enforcement purposes. The policy also prohibits using the Flock system to monitor or track individuals based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political affiliation.
The county’s policy does not explicitly state what the Flock data shall not be used for. Instead, it focuses on how Flock data can be used. In the city’s policy, data collected is retained for 30 days before being deleted. Whereas the county policy states, “The sheriff’s office will maintain the file for a period of one year or the filling of one terabyte of storage dedicated to this data base, whichever occurs first.”
The opposition group was organized to attend through a Facebook post. The group named multiple reasons why they want the cameras removed from Platte City, including:
·No benefit
No substantial evidence that they prevent crime, despite Flock’s slick sales pitch.
·Invasive surveillance
Flock tracks people’s every move and creates a detailed record of their location history. They track people, not just plates.
·Easily hacked
Flock cameras can easily be hacked, leaving residents vulnerable to anyone with bad intentions. Residents can’t know who is watching.
·Show me the money
Taxpayers are paying for Flock (a company worth $7 billion) to collect residents’ info, which they turn around and sell to corporations.
·AI is often wrong
Flock uses AI, which is prone to error, leading police to chase down bad leads.
·Proven risk of misuse
Data has led to wrongful arrests, profiling and stalking.
·More data centers
More cameras gather more data, which increases their need for more data centers.
·No opt-out
Unlike the tracking on cell phones or home computers, you can’t opt out of them harvesting data.
Eight residents spoke during public comments at the aldermen meeting, with one favoring the Flock system and the rest opposing it. Platte City resident Todd Lambrecht said he lives adjacent to Rising Star Park and believes placing cameras there will be an abuse of privacy. He said he was concerned about the facial recognition technology and who has access to that data later on.
“I take my own grandchild up there to play,” he said. “There is no way that I can feel comfortable that this data is secured. It’s been proven over and over that it’s not.”
His wife, Dawn Heineken, said the kids should be able to play at the park without being watched.
“We want police there, not cameras,” she said. “This is against our Fourth Amendment right.”
Another Platte City resident, Shannon Gallagher, spoke in opposition to the way Flock operates.
“The Flock system came in as a sales pitch to somebody, but a lot has come out since then. It’s not solving crimes, it is showing people’s information is being stolen or leaked into and its data collection.”
Jacob Kerschenske told the board there is no guarantee who is searching or what cameras are recording.
“What’s really interesting for me is that with these Flock cameras, we’re building a community that is based on ‘guilty until proven innocent.’ Versus ‘innocent until proven guilty,’” he said.
Several opponents at the meeting voiced their opinion that they didn’t have the opportunity to share their concerns with the board before the Flock contract was enacted.
Alderman Vickie Atkins said there were three public meetings held last summer where Flock cameras were discussed before the contract began, but no residents were in attendance.
“At the time, we didn’t have anybody in our audience,” she said. “The discussions were in our minutes and it was on the city website. So, because no one ever objected, we thought we were okay to approve another tool our police chief was requesting.”
City Administrator Bryan Richison said the next steps will be determined by the board. Aldermen can either choose to extend the Flock contract on the roadway cameras for another year or let it expire.
“The board has been gathering feedback and making considerations for less than a month now,” he said. “I’m going to see if we can get a couple months extension from Flock so the board has more time to hold a work session and they don’t feel rushed to make a decision.”
Below is what is referred to as a transparency link. At the link, scroll to the bottom to download what searches have been done/what data has been accessed.
https://transparency.flocksafety.com/platte-city-mo-pd
An overview statement at that link says:
“Platte City MO PD uses Flock Safety technology to capture objective evidence without compromising on individual privacy. Platte City MO PD utilizes retroactive search to solve crimes after they’ve occurred. Additionally, Platte City MO PD utilizes real time alerting of hotlist vehicles to capture wanted criminals. In an effort to ensure proper usage and guardrails are in place, they have made the below policies and usage statistics available to the public.”
