Troy residents rally against city's license-plate reading cameras

Residents rallied outside Troy City Hall on Friday over the city's contract with Flock and its license-plate reading cameras.

Mayor Carmella Mantello issued a public safety emergency on Wednesday to fund the company's contract, after the city council ordered the auditor to pause payments.

Mantello accuses the council of inappropriate interference with public safety.

City Council President Sue Steele argues Mantello is violating the city charter.

Protesters raised concerns over citizen privacy.

“Flock also does human detection. Flock also does sound detection. These are all getting fed into the same national database. And where’s the line with public safety and privacy? I think that we have a lot of questions about that,” Dierdre Shea of Troy said.

Flock says it only looks at vehicles and does not use facial recognition.