City leaders in Wausau will take up the police department's license plate camera program on Oct. 19. The Public Health and Safety Committee is set to discuss city policy on automatic license plate recognition and the existing agreement with Flock Group Inc., and it may take action at the meeting, which starts at 5:15 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 407 Grant St.
Materials prepared for the meeting include the city's 31-page contract with Flock Safety, the police department's five-page policy for the technology, and a 41-page analysis sent in by resident and artificial intelligence entrepreneur Felix Gallo. The city's five-year contract dates to late 2023 and is set to renew on its own for two more years on Dec. 15, 2028. One of two remaining $50,000 payments on the contract comes due around Dec. 15, 2026, and the contract allows the council to end it without penalty for non-appropriation of funds if Flock gets 30 days' notice.
According to a June report by Police Captain of Investigations Ben Graham, the department runs 20 Flock cameras in the city at $2,500 per camera per year. Two sit on Flock's standard 12-foot poles and the other 18 are mounted on existing utility poles.
Graham's report says the system records vehicle information only, including plate numbers and vehicle characteristics, and does not collect names, faces or other biometric information. The data is kept for 30 days and shared only with law enforcement agencies inside Wisconsin; agencies outside the state, including federal agencies, cannot access what Wausau's cameras capture.
The report credits the cameras with helping in 36 cases since 2023, covering matters such as stolen vehicles, hit-and-runs, a shooting, a kidnapping, retail theft, impaired driving, elder abuse and domestic abuse. Graham also pointed to department safeguards that include required training, audit logs and discipline for anyone who uses the system for a non-law-enforcement purpose.
