By Lauren Gibbons BRIDGEMI.COM

This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.

In Oakland County’s Waterford Township, concern over the use of automatic license plate readers by law enforcement agencies escalated to a 24-year-old man smashing several of the devices to bits.

Police credit one of the cameras he’s accused of breaking with helping track him down. The license plate reader, Sheriff Scott Underwood said, captured his license plate data before it was damaged.

Underwood highlighted that incident as one of many examples where the readers have assisted in solving crimes quickly, but the damaged cameras and subsequent arrest highlight the tension many communities are experiencing as local officials grapple with how and whether to use automatic license plate readers in policing.

At least 16 states have adopted policies aimed at regulating the use and retention of data collected by license plate readers, which capture pictures of vehicle license plates every time a car drives by.

A group of lawmakers led by Republican state Rep. Doug Wozniak of Shelby Township and Democratic state Rep. Jimmie Wilson of Ypsilanti are suggesting it’s time for Michigan to do the same.

“Michiganders deserve to know that new technology is being used responsibly, not in ways that invade privacy or erode public confidence,” Wozniak said in a statement announcing bipartisan bills to regulate the devices, arguing their plan would protect driver privacy and help maintain public trust in law enforcement.

Absent a statewide policy, decisions on the use of license plate readers have fallen to local law enforcement agencies and municipal governments.

In communities where license plate reader contracts are being considered, concerned residents have increasingly spoken up at public hearings about the possibility of data being used to surveil lawful activity or the possible sharing of data with federal law enforcement agencies.

At least 125 Michigan agencies contract with the Atlanta-based company Flock Safety, one of the largest providers nationwide of automatic license plate reader technology.

Law enforcement agencies using the devices tout the technology as a speedy way to help locate missing people or catch criminals, and some police groups are concerned the proposed statewide regulations as written would go too far.

Colorado lawmakers debate limits on police surveillance, data and tech: ‘It’s not just coming down the pipe — it’s here’

“We’re not against any regulations — we just don’t want it to weaken what a good investigative tool the license plate readers are,” said Matt Saxton, executive director of the Michigan Sheriff’s Association.

HOW THE BILLS WOULD WORK

If the proposed legislation became law, the biggest change would be a restriction on how long any data collected by license plate readers is stored.

Lawmakers supporting the bills are pushing for a 14-day limit on data retention, as well as limiting use of the license plate reader system to specific law enforcement actions, including:

Finding missing peopleLocating stolen vehiclesLocating people with outstanding arrest warrantsIdentifying uninsured or unregistered vehiclesParking and tolling enforcementCriminal investigations

The legislation also calls for publicly available reports from agencies using the readers on how the data is used and would offer a path for legal recourse if a driver believes his or her data was used improperly.

State and local governments can support effective policing “while still demanding safeguards that protect civil liberties,” Wilson said in a statement announcing the bills.

“This legislation creates clear limits on how … data is collected, stored and shared, ensuring these tools are used to improve public safety, not to enable routine mass surveillance,” he continued.

In most communities with license plate readers, the devices are placed at or near major public intersections. As vehicles pass by, the reader takes a photo of the back of the car, collecting the license plate number that can be used to look up the vehicle registration.

Photos are typically stored by the contractor for 30 days, though locals can elect to keep them for more or less time. The law enforcement entity can then cross-check those images with “hot lists” of license plates connected to suspected criminals or missing people.

Critics contend that 24-hour surveillance of drivers, the vast majority of whom will never be charged with a crime, poses major privacy concerns — especially considering the 30-day standard for storing the data also means anyone with access could gain insight into a driver’s daily routines.

Saxton, the executive director of the Sheriff’s Association, said law enforcement criminal investigations or missing person searches can take longer than two weeks to complete. He’s concerned cutting the timeline short could limit the effectiveness of the tool.

Flock plate reader use ends in two Silicon Valley communities

“If that data was gone after 14 days, we couldn’t use that as a tool to help that family find out answers about their missing loved ones,” he said.

The proposed legislation is pending in the House Judiciary Committee and would need to earn majority support in the politically divided House and Senate to become law.

ACLU of Michigan policy strategist Gabrielle Dresner, whose organization worked closely with lawmakers on crafting the proposal, is optimistic about the chances of meaningful reform.

“​​In conversations we’ve had with the vast majority of the representatives, we’ve had a lot of support from both sides of the aisle … the most left of left and right of right,” she said. “It’s really a popular issue among everyone.”

WHERE THINGS STAND STATEWIDE

In the meantime, communities around the state are reaching differing conclusions about how to balance law enforcement requests with increased pushback from citizens.

After weeks of opposition from residents, Lapeer County Sheriff Scott McKenna recently pulled back a request for license plate readers.

He told county commissioners that he personally believes foregoing the readers “leaves us in a vulnerable position,” but, after taking stock of the situation, he “felt it was my duty at that point to pull it off the agenda.”

Some cities, including Bay City and Ferndale, have in recent months backed out of contracts with Flock and have reassessed their license plate reader policies or switched to a different provider in response to community concerns.

In Detroit, city council members recently requested a report on how data collected from the city’s more than 500 license plate readers is used, expressing concerns about the possibility of data sharing.

But other communities are still considering getting their own license plate readers or adding onto existing contracts as local police credit the technology with helping locate stolen vehicles, bust human trafficking rings, solve serious crimes like rapes and murders and fill coverage gaps in short-staffed departments.

Local officials in Trenton and Taylor this week considered renewing existing contracts with Flock Safety. Taylor police credit the tool with arrests in a 14-year-old’s shooting death and a sting operation involving possible child predators, among other things.

In Waterford Township, where police began using license plate readers in 2022, law enforcement was recently approved to add additional readers and Flock-powered drones to its repertoire, despite concerted pushback from locals.

After several cameras were destroyed — including the camera that led to an arrest in the crime — Underwood, the Waterford police chief, in a press release said the public is entitled to their opinions regarding the readers, but aren’t entitled to maliciously interfere.

The license plate readers “collect only images of vehicles and license plates,” he said in the release. “Those images, coupled with a number of other investigative techniques, led to a successful resolution in this case, that being the arrest of a person who committed three felonies.”

Can Michigan block new ICE facilities? How officials are fighting back

Federal agencies gained access to car owners’ information from El Cerrito license plate readers

Michigan man accused of smashing license plate readers — including the one that recorded his vehicle

Pushback against Flock cameras comes to Denver suburb

By Isabel Lohman, Bridge Michigan

This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.

On any given school day in Eastpointe, a student in special education may be working on speech skills with someone on a screen.

The student is receiving one-on-one support from a virtual speech pathologist. It’s two-on-one support if you count the paraprofessional there to escort the child, supervise them and sometimes help with exercises.

Eastpointe Community Schools Superintendent Christina A. Gibson has four virtual speech pathology providers and two in-person providers to help 149 students with speech services, including 37 pre-K students.

In a perfect world, she would prefer to have all in-person speech professionals. “This is not an ideal situation,” Gibson told Bridge. “I think the best speech services are delivered face-to-face.”

Competition for speech teachers is fierce, and demand is outpacing supply, said Gibson.

“Because the demand is there all over the country, speech pathologists can work wherever they want to,” Gibson said. “And districts don’t have choices. Our first priority is always to be compliant and to provide services to students.”

Couple that with a growing student need for speech services and you get vacancies. Some of those vacancies get filled by virtual therapists.

As of Friday, Feb. 27, Optimise, a statewide special education talent task force, listed 224 job openings for speech pathologists to work in Michigan’s public schools.

Temporary solution

In Ann Arbor, Dicken Elementary is using a virtual speech therapist after an in-person therapist resigned recently.

Andrew Cluley, an Ann Arbor Public Schools spokesperson, said the move is “temporary” and does not change students’ goals in their individualized education programs (IEPs), how often or how much speech service a student receives.

“Our intent is to ensure continuity of services during staffing shortages rather than allowing gaps in support for 27 Dicken students.”

Cluley said all speech languages services, regardless of if they are in-person or virtual, are being provided by Michigan-licensed speech language pathologists.

Ann Arbor Education Association President Fred Klein said the transition to virtual speech is a “Band-Aid, stop gap measure.”

He said he’s hopeful the district will be able to hire an in-person speech therapist but he said compensation remains a challenge in the district.

The union is negotiating a new contract with the district. More broadly, many have argued for an increase in teacher compensation to help attract and retain teachers.

Michigan ranks 44th nationwide in starting salaries, $41,645, while the average teacher pay of $69,067 ranks 19th among states, according to an analysis from the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) at Michigan State University.

Meanwhile, it’s unclear just how common virtual staffing is for special education.

Districts report job vacancy information to the state, but the Michigan Department of Education said it does not know how many special education positions are being filled by virtual contractors or employees.

MDE declined to say whether the department believes speech services should be offered in-person.

“Those types of decisions are made through an IEP developed at the local level based on the specific needs of each student,” said MDE spokesperson Bob Wheaton.

There are 215,449 students with Individualized Education Programs during the current school year, an increase of 1.8% than the previous school year.

“Whenever you’re doing any type of virtual services, you should be communicating with the family,” said Tina Lawson, vice president of the Michigan Association of Administrators of Special Education.

“They should have a clear understanding of what is taking place. Whether that’s through an (individualized education program) discussion, or a direct phone call or some form of letter communication with the family to make sure that they understand the participation of it.”

Michigan special education teaching positions have a higher vacancy rate than other fields, according to a different analysis from EPIC.

“It’s not just vacancies, it’s also turnover,” said Tara Kilbride, associate director of EPIC, who researches the teacher workforce. “And turnover during the school year, especially, is higher in special education than other areas.”

‘Human relationships’

While virtual workers can help students individually, educators acknowledge there are some aspects that aren’t possible with someone on a screen. For example, they can’t just hop into a classroom to help a teacher out if a specific student is having a behavioral concern or needs some time to cool off.

In Potterville, the middle and high school uses a virtual social worker. Special education teacher Samantha Jean said the social worker is “amazing,” and attends IEP meetings, meets one-on-one with Jean and has helped students meet their goals.

“But then on the flip side of that is, you have those kids that really thrive on those human relationships. So I have had one student(s’) family say ‘until we have in-person, this just doesn’t benefit him. He sits there, refuses to talk.”

In response, Jean said she helps the student with his social skills.

“We have to figure out a way to give those kids the services they need,” Jean said.

Kilbride, the workforce researcher, said it’s important to consider tradeoffs.

“If the alternative is not having anyone at all, that’s obviously worse than having the virtual service provider,” Kilbride said. “If the alternative is having your existing staff spread thin or having higher caseloads, harder workloads among the special education service providers, that can also be a problem.”

Lawson, also the director of special education at Berrien RESA, said her intermediate district “would prefer in-person. It’s definitely much more beneficial for students to have that one-to-one in-person provision of services.”

Last spring, LaKesha Welch started the process of enrolling her son for first grade at Eastpointe. Welch said her son has autism and is nonverbal and hyperactive. Her son had already benefited from applied behavioral analysis therapy, and Welch hoped her son could become more independent in traditional public school. But she learned his speech services would be virtual, which Welch said she couldn’t “see that being a workable solution for my son.”

Ultimately, Welch chose for her son to enroll in L’Anse Creuse Schools, another Macomb County district.

Solutions for special education

Administrators acknowledged state efforts to increase the number of teachers and other roles that support students with disabilities.

Still, they say more should be done.

Jean wants districts and the state to ensure social workers who have never been in an education setting before have training on classroom management, verbal de-escalation skills and mandated reporting.

“Man, if I had that magic wand, it would be putting those people in those positions with the correct training behind it,” Jean said.

Gibson, of Eastpointe, said she continues to work with her local union to see if the district can provide financial incentives for hard-to-staff positions.

She also wants the state to change rules so that paraprofessionals can directly provide speech services with the guidance of speech therapists.