A police-led audit was supposed to help settle a disagreement on how to regulate Flock cameras — the artificial intelligence-integrated automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) — used by the Troy police.
Instead, Troy officials can’t seem to agree on whether the audit is sufficient.
City Councilmember Noreen McKee called TPD’s report on the cameras “incomplete.”
“This is critical information to help inform the council’s deliberations on an ALPR law that balances public safety with personal privacy,” said McKee, who represents the city’s 4th District, in a statement.
Mayor Carmella Mantello, who has opposed further restrictions on the cameras, said in her own statement Friday that police gave the council exactly what they asked for.
“There was no attempt to conceal, omit, or withhold information,” Mantello said. “The City Council received all 826 ALPR searches conducted during the audit period. The information was available for review, but they were too lazy to review it in its entirety.”
City officials on both sides of the issue agreed to the 60-day audit after McKee drafted a local law that would require Troy police to delete data from the city’s Flock cameras after 48 hours. It would also only allow the cameras to compare license plates against lists of vehicles linked to criminal investigations.
McKee and other members of the all-Democratic city council have argued that maintaining Flock data for 30 days — as TPD does under current policy — would allow Troy residents to be tracked and surveilled. Troy police and Mantello, a Republican, have argued that maintaining Flock camera data for 30 days is necessary to solve crimes that get reported to the police later.
The council is set to discuss the audit — and whether to further regulate the city’s use of Flock cameras — during their public safety committee meeting on Aug. 20.
Flock cameras collect information on passing vehicles — including license plate, make, model, color and bumper stickers — and compare it to other law enforcement databases. A recent report from the journalist-owned tech news site 404 Media found that the cameras can also be used to track people.
The city first installed the cameras more than five years ago and now has 26 throughout the city in undisclosed locations. The cameras cost the city $78,000 per year.
What’s in the audit?
Everyone agrees the data shows police queried Flock data 826 times in connection with 81 cases.
In files shared with WAMC by the City Council, the 826 searches were stored in two Excel files. Those Excel files included a unique ID for all 826 searches, the number of networks searched, the time frame of the investigation, the type of incident being investigated, the search filters used (if any), where the search was made, and the date and time of the search.
A table of the 30 cases that advanced to an investigation, arrest or recovery of property is in a separate PDF. A second PDF contains a narrative summary of TPD's findings.
According to a review of the 30 cases involving Flock cameras that Troy police said resulted in an arrest or investigation:
- In 18, the date of the incident and the date of the Flock system search occurred within two days of each other;
- In seven, the incident was reported within two days of its occurrence, but police didn’t query the Flock until more than two days after the incident;
- In one, an incident occurred in January 2025 and was reported the same day. In an attempt to locate the suspect, Troy police used the Flock system on June 11, 2026, to search footage recorded on June 10, 2026;
- In one, an incident was reported three days after it occurred;
- In three, police searched Flock footage from the 30 days prior.
McKee, who supports more regulations on the cameras, said for those other 51 cases TPD didn’t provide enough information, like the date the incident was reported to police or the status or disposition of the case.
“We want to create legislation that's based on concrete information,” McKee said in an interview. “And that’s why we asked for a lot of information, so that we could understand the use, how they operate, and how important it is for the police to use as a tool to solve crimes.”
The data for those 51 other cases is available in the two Excel spreadsheets containing the 826 times Troy police searched the Flock data, Mantello said in a statement Friday. She also argued that the police department’s regular audits and public reporting of Flock searches would be sufficient to safeguard individuals’ data.
“Unfortunately, it has become increasingly clear that no matter what I say or what our highly trained law enforcement professionals provide, it is never good enough for the City Council,” Mantello said. “We have agreed from the beginning, oversight is needed, but rather than accepting the facts, the council continues to cast doubt on the integrity of the men and women who have dedicated their careers to protecting our community.”
Mantello also accused McKee of accusing the city police of intentionally withholding information.
McKee called TPD’s audit “incomplete,” but she did not accuse the police of intentionally withholding any information in her public statement or in her email to Police Chief Dan DeWolf. McKee said in an interview that she had “no idea” why the data was incomplete.
Council to decide on Flock regulations
The City Council agreed to put its legislation restricting the use of Flock cameras on hold until after a 60-day audit.
Now that time is up, and the council is set to discuss the Flock cameras at an Aug. 20 meeting.
McKee sent an email to TPD on Thursday asking for more information on the remaining 51 cases. But DeWolf rejected her request Friday afternoon, saying that all the data she wanted was contained in the files she received. He also admonished McKee for not taking a meeting to go over the data with Mantello.
“The police department is providing you with the requested information and additional information that we believe shows even more transparency,” DeWolf wrote in an email obtained by WAMC. “Rather than send an accusatory email, you could have simply asked for clarification.”
Without additional data, McKee told WAMC her proposed 48-hour window to access Flock camera data should be sufficient for the police.
“If we only go on the 30 cases, I think we have enough evidence to state that we would keep it at 48 hours for now,” McKee said. “But I’d like to have the rest of the information.”
DeWolf told WAMC before the audit was released to City Council members that the data showed that Flock cameras were “very useful” as a deterrent and investigative aid. He also said the data supported keeping the city’s current data retention policy, which allows the department to maintain Flock data for 30 days.
“I don’t think 30 days is unreasonable,” DeWolf said in an interview last week. “It’s not like TV. Investigations aren’t done in an hour, and sometimes they’re not done in a month, you know, depending on how complicated they are, or how information that’s going to help you trickles in.”
DeWolf did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Earlier this year, the City Council tried to prevent the city from renewing its contract with Flock by ordering the city auditor to withhold funding. But Mantello declared a state of emergency to keep the funding going. Mantello and the City Council are now embroiled in a court battle over the emergency declaration.
The City Council is holding hearings on a local law that would change when mayors can make emergency declarations.
