Minnesota Flock cameras: Police audit installation safety concerns

New license plate reader safety concerns Privacy advocates are escalating their fight against automated license plate readers, and they’re now being joined by safety advocates who say they could be installed dangerously. FOX 9’s Corin Hoggard explains. The Brief A retired firefighter discovered some Flock automated license plate reader camera poles near Highway 120 and Interstate 94 in Maplewood do not match permit and installation specs.Woodbury police say they found one non-compliant standalone pole and are reviewing all camera installations, while Maplewood did not respond.Flock says it is taking the concerns seriously and auditing some cameras nationwide. (FOX 9) - Questions are growing about whether some Flock camera poles are dangerous because of the way they were installed. Camera poles across the metro look different What we know: FOX 9 drove around the Twin Cities to check on camera installations and found they are not all set up the same way. Some cameras were added to existing poles, but FOX 9 also found plenty of standalone poles, the type a national traffic safety advocate has warned about. Local perspective: Former firefighter Bill Braun identified potential problems with Flock camera poles recently installed along Highway 120 near Interstate 94 in Maplewood. Braun got the specs and found installations that do not appear to match up. "Here we're somewhere around 6 inches above the grade level. And where this is supposed to be installed in concrete, this is just dirt," said Braun. He said the setup should look different. "It's supposed to be within 3 inches of a concrete base. And the concrete base is supposed to go down 4 feet," said Braun. Why you should care: The poles are crash-tested and designed to break away on impact. But the installation near Highway 120 does not match details from the state permit and it is nowhere near 50 feet from an intersection, which MnDOT engineers said would be necessary in an email acquired by FOX 9. Skid marks near the pitch-black pole in Maplewood suggest it has narrowly avoided at least one crash. Braun said it is unclear how the pole would react if a driver hit it. "We don't know, because it's not tested. It's not the way it's supposed to be installed. It's dangerous. This may shoot out and spear people, or spear other drivers, spear pedestrians, go through the vehicle," said Braun. Police, state and company responses What they're saying: The cameras Braun identified are operated by Woodbury and Maplewood police.  Woodbury police told FOX 9 they had already identified a non-compliant standalone pole and took action and after our inquiries, officials said they "are conducting a review of all ALPR installations to verify they comply with all applicable state and local regulations and permitting requirements." Maplewood never responded. Big picture view: The Maplewood pole also caught the attention of Steve Eimers, a Tennessee man known as "The Guardrail Guy," whose daughter died in a crash where a proper guardrail could have saved her life. "The states have essentially allowed the Wild West," said Eimers. The Woodbury camera is on state property and was permitted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). A MnDOT spokeswoman said that no local governments have notified the state of any crashworthiness concerns, and the state tells anyone seeking a permit that standalone poles must meet certain standards, including being MASH-16 approved breakaway poles. "I think that what Bill comes up with here is that basically there's no third-party oversight of these installations," said Eimers. A Flock spokesperson told FOX 9 that the company's installation standards are designed to comply with local requirements, but Flock is taking Eimers' concerns seriously. Flock also shared comments from CEO Garrett Langley about checking cameras across the country and reinstalling some. "These are measures above and beyond what often departments of transportation require in their permitting and installation process and so really, really helpful conversation and excited to partner with him in kind of conducting a nationwide audit," said Flock CEO Garrett Langley. The National Safety Council says fixed-barrier crashes accounted for about a quarter, 26%, of vehicle deaths nationwide in 2024. Braun and Eimers said they want the issues addressed before the bottom of the cameras becomes as much of a lightning rod as the top. "It's about trying to save that next life. You save one life, you save the world," said Eimers. What we don't know: It is not clear from the responses FOX 9 received whether every automated license plate reader installation meets state and local requirements, how a pole installed outside permit details would perform in a crash, or what Maplewood plans to do because the city did not respond. The Source: FOX 9 reporting, interviews with Bill Braun and Steve Eimers, responses from Woodbury, a MnDOT spokeswoman, Flock and data from the National Safety Council. MinnesotaCrime and Public SafetyTechnologyArtificial Intelligence