The South Portland City Council will host a workshop Tuesday on Flock cameras, the stationary devices that automatically read license plates. 

The public will get a chance to comment and the council will discuss whether to change, expand or discontinue the use of the cameras after the police department makes a presentation.

The council was originally planning to consider a request by the police department for funding for an additional camera and renewal of the contract with Flock on Tuesday, but the city removed its request the night before, saying the subject warranted its own discussion. Residents have expressed concerns about the data these cameras collect and who has access to it. 

The city has seven Flock cameras, which use artificial intelligence and machine learning to scan and log the license plate, model, color and other identifying information, like bumper stickers, from every vehicle that passes through its field of view.

Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based company that contracts with more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, has come under fire over who has access to the data it collects. A report found that the company shared data with federal immigration and border authorities.

There have been no reported instances of misuse of the technology in South Portland, said Shara Dee, the city’s spokesperson.

Police Chief Daniel Ahern said there are no comparable alternatives to the cameras, should the council choose to terminate or not renew the contract. 

The police force began using the stationary cameras last year. The city’s current contract with Flock expires June 4, 2027. 

Previously, the department used automated license plate readers mounted to cruisers beginning in 2011. These cameras captured pictures of license plates and automatically searched databases that confirmed owner name, registration and license information and whether there was a warrant out.

When the technology became outdated, the department switched to stationary Flock cameras instead of upgrading.

“It’s possibly the most effective tool for law enforcement since DNA,” Ahern said. 

Flock cameras don’t automatically search license plates through state or national databases, Ahern said. Rather, it stores images of license plates for 21 days. Officers have to select a specific reason for a search from a drop-down menu of about 40 options, like a missing person or stolen vehicle. Immigration and reproductive rights are not options on that list, according to Detective Jeff Levesque.

Each search is recorded in an audit, and the police department plans to display these search logs on its website, according to Ahern. Only detectives and supervisors can perform searches.

The current cameras — two near Interstate 295 by Pape Chevrolet, two on Western Avenue by Maine Mall Road, two at Cash Corner and one on Maine Mall Road — capture between 100,000 and 150,000 images per day. Each camera scans two and a half lanes of traffic and is positioned to capture the back of vehicles (not all states have front plates), according to Levesque. 

These cameras have so far been instrumental in helping identify an online child predator and locate suspects in a bank robbery and a shooting, Dee said.

The department has sharing agreements with about 700 agencies through the Flock network, mostly municipal and sheriff offices, according to Levesque.

No Flock for South Portland, a group organizing around the issue, said in a media release this month that records indicate that 70 of these law enforcement agencies collaborate with federal immigration enforcement. The group alleges that the city has shared Flock network access with groups in 44 states, and that more than a hundred of the 2,000-plus searches since April 2025 were on behalf of other agencies, many of them unnamed, according to No Flock for South Portland.

The force doesn’t approve sharing agreements with federal agencies, although it sometimes shares individual license plates when working specific cases, like sex trafficking stings, according to Levesque. It does not share plates for cases related to immigration or reproductive rights, he said. 

U.S. Immigrants and Customs Enforcement has never requested anything from the city’s ALPR data, Ahern said. 

“It’s an ineffective tool for ICE,” Ahern said. “If ICE wants to surveil you, then they’re going to surveil you.” 

While some residents object to having their license plates scanned each time they drive past a Flock camera, Ahern said there is no expectation of privacy on a public road. 

An officer needs reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle, but there is no similar requirement to run a license plate, Ahern said. An officer on patrol could legally look up every license plate that passes by, and that’s what the cameras do.

“You agree that we can do certain things when you put that registration on the back of your car,” he said.