License-plate cameras around the lake: who decided, and what they record
The Antrim County Sheriff’s Office has been asking townships and villages to put up Flock license-plate cameras. Some boards said yes and some said no. The county board has heard from a packed room but hasn’t voted on any rules. Here is what the public record shows.
What the cameras do
Flock cameras photograph the backs of passing vehicles. According to Interlochen Public Radio’s July 2026 report, they record more than the plate number, including bumper stickers, dents, broken tail lights, and the date and time; the data is kept for 30 days, and only police can search it. At Helena Township’s August meeting, sheriff’s representatives said the system takes still photographs rather than video, doesn’t use facial recognition and doesn’t see inside vehicles.
Sheriff Kevin Hoch has promoted the cameras at township and village meetings across the county, describing a case where a camera “hit” helped find a suspect.
Interlochen Public Radio, July 2, 2026; Helena Township Board minutes, Aug. 13, 2026.
Who decides
Each township or village decides whether a camera goes up within its borders. At the county board’s Oct. 1, 2026 meeting, chair Bill Hefferan said, “I will always defer to our 15 townships in Antrim County.” About 50 people attended; most of those who spoke were members of DeFlock Northern Michigan, a group opposed to the cameras. The board took no formal action, according to WPBN.
WPBN/UpNorthLive, Oct. 1, 2026.
The local votes on the record
| Date | Board | What happened | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| July–Aug. 2025 | Torch Lake Township Board | Sheriff’s Office presentations on the “Flock License Plate Reader” (July 15; Aug. 19, by a sheriff’s detective). In July the clerk was asked to check with Elk Rapids “on how they are doing with theirs.” A resident raised concerns in August. | July minutes |
| Sept. 16, 2025 | Torch Lake Township Board | Approved “2 Flock Group License Plate Readers at locations based on Flock Research.” 5–0. | Minutes |
| Oct. 9, 2025 | Helena Township Board | Voted to buy a Flock camera for $3,000. 5–0, roll call. | Minutes |
| Nov. 13, 2025 | Helena Township Board | “License plate reader cameras proposed for Community Center and approved by motion.” Minutes also note Flock cameras “scheduled for installation.” | Minutes |
| Nov. 18, 2025 | Torch Lake Township Board | Approved a performance resolution for the Michigan Department of Transportation “related to Flock installation.” 4–0. | Minutes |
| By April 2026 | Antrim County Board of Commissioners | Approved using 2% grant funds from the Grand Traverse Band for four new Flock camera systems, with the Sheriff’s Office “coordinating with townships on placement,” as reported by a county commissioner to Helena Township on April 9. | Helena minutes |
| April 1, 2026 | Village of Bellaire Council | County Commissioner Terry VanAlstine “updated on the ‘flock cameras’” in his county report. | Minutes |
| June 3, 2026 | Village of Bellaire Council | Denied a request to put a Flock camera on Bellaire Highway in the village right-of-way. 4–1 (Turner, Boyd, Bennett, McPherson for denying; Maza against). | Minutes |
| July 2, 2026 | Forest Home Township Board | After Undersheriff Lasater explained the program, approved the Sheriff’s request “to finance one Flock Camera to be placed within the township.” 3–2 (Steiner, Mahan, Smith yes; Kent, Crandall no). | Minutes |
| Aug. 13, 2026 | Helena Township Board | Sheriff’s representatives answered public questions: still photographs, not video; no facial recognition; can’t see inside vehicles. | Minutes |
| Sept. 16, 2026 | Antrim County Board of Commissioners | Public commenters said plate-reader cameras are deployed across the county and asked for county rules limiting data access, warrants for broad searches, and audits of the vendor’s systems. [Meeting summary, not minutes] | Citizen Portal |
| Oct. 1, 2026 | Antrim County Board of Commissioners | Standing-room crowd; residents asked the board to stop or limit the cameras. The undersheriff said the Sheriff’s Office uses them to find fugitives and missing people and in narcotics cases; commissioners stressed that townships decide. Discussion only, no formal action. WPBN reported nine Flock cameras in the county. | WPBN; summary |
Torch Lake Township’s board has kept hearing about it since: the sheriff spoke on “the benefits of Flock Cameras” and the security of their use in August 2026, residents questioned or opposed the cameras in June and September, and board member Cook stated his “continued support for FLOCK cameras” in September.
Torch Lake Township Board minutes, July 15, 2025; Aug. 18 and Sept. 15, 2026 (Aug., Sept.).
Where the cameras are: a map
The Sheriff’s Office hasn’t published where its cameras are. This map combines two sources. One camera was reported by Observer Staff: on Bellaire Highway just west of Bellaire, in Forest Home Township, facing west. Volunteers logged the same camera on OpenStreetMap on Oct. 23. Seven more come from volunteers who log these cameras on OpenStreetMap; those are volunteer reports, not official locations, and we haven’t visited them. The volunteer map changes as people add, move or remove entries, so the table shows what it said on Nov. 1. The map can’t show cameras nobody has logged: nothing is mapped yet at Helena Township’s Community Center or for Torch Lake Township’s second camera.
The map needs JavaScript. Every location is listed in the table below.
Reported by Observer Staff Volunteer-reported Volunteer locations: OpenStreetMap contributors, checked Nov. 1, 2026 (data). Know of a camera that isn’t here, or one that’s wrong? Tell us.
| # | Where | Pointed | What else the record shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bellaire Highway, west of Bellaire, Forest Home Township Reported by Observer Staff, Nov. 1, 2026; also on the volunteer map | Faces west | Beside Bellaire Highway near Lakeview Cemetery (county parcel 05-07-224-018-00). Volunteers also logged it on OpenStreetMap on Oct. 23, 2026, about 100 meters west of our pin, facing west-southwest. Forest Home Township agreed July 2 to finance one camera in the township; the records we’ve seen don’t say where it went. In June the Village of Bellaire turned down a camera on Bellaire Highway inside the village. |
| 2 | Eastport, Torch Lake Township, near Barnes Park Rd. and US-31 Volunteer report (OpenStreetMap) | Faces east | Matches a press report of a camera at an Eastport café parking lot; Torch Lake Township approved two cameras. |
| 3 | Village of Elk Rapids, N. Bayshore Dr. Volunteer report (OpenStreetMap) | Faces south | Elk Rapids police have their own Flock account (Grand Traverse County’s public Flock page lists “Elk Rapids MI PD”). |
| 4 | Village of Elk Rapids, near Green St. and US-31 Volunteer report (OpenStreetMap) | Faces east-northeast | Elk Rapids police have their own Flock account. |
| 5 | Village of Elk Rapids, Cairn Hwy. Volunteer report (OpenStreetMap) | Faces south | Elk Rapids police have their own Flock account. |
| 6 | Village of Mancelona, E. State St. Volunteer report (OpenStreetMap) | Faces west-northwest | No public record found yet. |
| 7 | Custer Township, US-131 south of Mancelona Volunteer report (OpenStreetMap) | Faces east-northeast | No public record found yet. |
| 8 | Warner Township, near M-32 Volunteer report (OpenStreetMap) | Faces south-southeast | No public record found yet. |
Counts from the press: Interlochen Public Radio counted eight Flock cameras in the county in July 2026, with three more planned; WPBN reported nine in October.
What the Sheriff’s own records show
A resident filed a public-records request with the Sheriff’s Office and described the 51-page response in a statement to Torch Lake Township, which the township put in its Sept. 15, 2026 board packet. We haven’t seen those records ourselves. According to that statement:
- Flock invoice INV-76884 bills “MI-Antrim County SO” for two cameras for Torch Lake Township at $3,000 each, $6,000 for the first year.
- The Sheriff’s Office has a written license-plate-reader policy, Policy 431, covering access, searches, retention, sharing, audits and outside requests.
- The agreements describe plate reading along with Flock’s “Vehicle Fingerprint” technology, which identifies vehicles by features other than the plate.
Who else can see the pictures
Grand Traverse County’s sheriff publishes a Flock “transparency portal.” As of Nov. 1, 2026, it lists both the Antrim County Sheriff’s Office and the Elk Rapids Police Department among the agencies it shares its camera data with, along with federal agencies including the FBI. It also shows a 30-day retention period for Grand Traverse’s own cameras. Antrim County doesn’t have such a portal that we could find, so who can search Antrim’s cameras isn’t public.
Grand Traverse County MI SO transparency portal, checked Nov. 1, 2026.
Cameras on state highways
A camera in a state highway right-of-way needs an MDOT permit. MDOT’s instructions require a “Performance Resolution” from the local government (Torch Lake Township passed one for Flock in November 2025), require the agency to follow the Michigan State Police license-plate-reader manual, and require a signed promise that the data “will not be used, sold or otherwise transferred, for any purpose other than law enforcement.”
MDOT license-plate-reader permit instructions (rev. March 2024).
State law
Michigan has no law specifically governing license-plate readers yet. Bills on the subject (House Bills 5492 and 5493, introduced in January 2026, and Senate Bill 1131, introduced in July 2026) are still in committee.
Michigan Legislature: HB 5492, HB 5493, SB 1131 (status pages).
What it costs, and who pays
- Helena Township voted to spend $3,000 on one camera (Oct. 9, 2025). The minutes don’t say whether that is a one-time price or a yearly fee.
- Forest Home Township agreed to “finance one Flock Camera” at the Sheriff’s request (July 2, 2026). The minutes don’t give the amount or the location.
- Torch Lake Township approved two readers (Sept. 16, 2025). The minutes don’t give a price.
- The county used 2% grant money from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians for four camera systems, according to a county commissioner’s report to Helena Township (April 9, 2026).
Because each township signs on separately, the costs are spread across township budgets rather than one county line item. Speakers at the county board raised that point in September.
Elsewhere in Michigan
The same decision is being made town by town across the state. In northern Michigan, Interlochen Public Radio has reported on townships deciding whether to opt in, and the Oceana County sheriff ended a Flock trial after what the sheriff described as “significant” negative public feedback.
Interlochen Public Radio, July 2, 2026; report on Oceana County.
Questions still open
- The official list of locations. The Sheriff’s Office hasn’t published one; the map above is volunteer reports.
- Contract terms. The first-year price is described as $3,000 a camera; the length of the agreements, renewal and cancellation terms aren’t public.
- Who can search Antrim’s cameras, and the actual retention setting. Policy 431 is said to cover both; we haven’t seen it.
- Forest Home’s cost, and whether the camera on Bellaire Highway is the one the township agreed to finance.
- The county’s grant: the tribe’s published 2% award lists we checked (July 2025, July 2026) don’t show a Flock award.
The Sheriff’s Policy 431, the Flock agreements and invoices, and the camera list have already been released once under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, so they can be requested again. When we get them, we’ll post them here.
Respond or add to this
The Sheriff’s Office and the boards listed here are welcome to respond or correct the record at corrections@torchlakeobserver.com. If your township has voted on cameras and isn’t listed, write to tips@torchlakeobserver.com.
Update log
Nov. 1, 2026: Refreshed the volunteer data: the Bellaire Highway camera is also on the volunteer map; new entries in Mancelona and Warner Township; an Alba entry has been removed by volunteers.
Nov. 1, 2026: Added a camera on Bellaire Highway west of Bellaire, in Forest Home Township, reported by Observer Staff.
Nov. 1, 2026: Added a map of volunteer-reported camera locations, what a resident’s records request showed (as described in a Torch Lake Township packet), Grand Traverse County’s sharing list, MDOT permit conditions and the state bills.
Nov. 1, 2026: Page started. Same day: added the 2025 Torch Lake Township presentations, the April 2026 Bellaire county report, Helena’s August questions, the September and October county board meetings, and a section on costs. We checked for a public Flock “transparency portal” for the Antrim County Sheriff’s Office and didn’t find one.