A resolution passed Thursday by the Minneapolis City Council urges the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and the University of Minnesota to cancel their contracts with Flock Safety.
Flock’s automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) have have gained scrutiny across Minnesota over concerns about privacy and access to data by outside agencies, including federal immigration authorities. Several cities have chosen to end their use of the technology over the past year, including St. Paul, Duluth and Plymouth.
According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office maintains one ALPR at the intersection of Penn Avenue and 40th Street in Minneapolis. The U of M has 14 Flock cameras — up from the 10 it had disclosed as of Sept. 13 — and does not publicly disclose their locations, citing security reasons…