Lansing Flock cameras: city attorney says the council can ban them from city streets, and a ban is being drafted

LANSING, Mich. — Lansing’s City Council has the power to ban license plate reader cameras from city streets, the city attorney has concluded, and the council member leading the fight against the city’s Flock Safety cameras says a ban is being drafted.

“Council could prohibit the placement of ALPR cameras in City rights-of-way,” City Attorney Gregory Venker wrote in a seven-page opinion dated Oct. 24 and sent to council members and Mayor Andy Schor, WKAR reported. ALPR stands for automated license plate reader.

What the opinion allows, and what it doesn’t. Venker wrote that, under the City Charter, the council “may not pass an ordinance detailing how ALPR cameras or the evidence they generate may (or may not) be used by the Lansing Police Department.” But the council “has the primary regulatory authority over rights-of-way,” which covers where police place technology, he wrote, according to WKAR.

That matters because all of the city’s cameras are in the right-of-way. The Lansing Police Department leases 26 Flock cameras at seven locations along city streets, Police Chief Robert Backus told the council in August, WLNS reported.

The case for the cameras. Backus has defended the cameras as a tool for investigating and solving crimes. “We need to connect it to a person, we need to connect it to a location. That’s how we’re going to make progress in solving these crimes,” he said in August, WILX reported. The mayor’s office has said the cameras have been key to solving several violent crimes and pointed to rules that delete data after 30 days and limit who can see it, The ’Gander reported.

The case against them. First Ward Councilmember Ryan Kost, who introduced the council’s Aug. 24 resolution asking the city to end its Flock contract, says the cameras amount to a surveillance system. “It comes down to how far do we go on impeding people’s civil liberties in the name of safety,” he told WKAR. He said the council learned from Flock in July that about 140 other law enforcement agencies in Michigan could see Lansing’s cameras; WILX reported an email put the number at 141.

Why the cameras are still on. The August resolution passed 7-1 but was not binding. Under Lansing’s strong-mayor charter, the contract decision belongs to Schor, whose office says the city has about a year and a half left on its lease. A mayoral spokesperson said Monday that Schor had not seen the new opinion and “looks forward to seeing whatever is introduced and debated by the Council.”

Council President Peter Spadafore, the lone no vote in August, said the council should explore the option but wants to know what else a ban could touch. “Does this affect parking enforcement? Does this affect some of the things that are on school buses for student safety?” he told WKAR. The issue did not come up at Monday’s council meeting, and Kost said he will wait for written language, WILX reported.

What a ban would and wouldn’t do. A right-of-way ban would not stop police from using plate readers placed on private property or other spots outside the right-of-way. Kost told WKAR he doubts how well cameras would work from farther away.

Lansing isn’t alone in the debate. Sterling Heights’ council voted 4-3 to keep its Flock cameras through 2028, and the Houghton County board asked the state to set rules first.

Sources:
WKAR, “Lansing City Council to consider ban on existing Flock cameras,” Oct. 27, 2026 (Venker opinion quotes, camera count, Kost, Spadafore and mayoral spokesperson quotes, contract), https://www.wkar.org/wkar-news/2026-10-27/lansing-city-council-to-consider-ban-on-existing-flock-cameras
WILX, “Lansing council member pushes to ban license plate readers from public right of way,” Oct. 26, 2026 (141 organizations, Backus quote, Monday meeting), https://www.wilx.com/2026/10/27/lansing-council-member-pushes-ban-license-plate-readers-public-right-way/
The ’Gander, “Lansing voted to pull the plug on Flock cameras. So why are they still watching?,” Oct. 1, 2026 (strong-mayor system, mayor’s statement, data rules), https://gandernewsroom.com/news/politics/lansing-mayor-flock-cameras/
WLNS, “After vote, Lansing City Council asks admin and police to terminate Flock contracts” (7-1 vote, 26 cameras at seven locations), https://www.wlns.com/lansing/lansing-city-council-votes-to-ask-admin-police-end-flock-contracts/
Photo: Tony Webster, “Flock Safety ALPR Camera,” June 27, 2024, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flock_Safety_ALPR_Camera_(53833285849).jpg

Lansing

Tags: Lansing · Flock Safety · License Plate Readers · Lansing City Council · Lansing Police · Public Safety