Grassroots effort to 'Get the Flock' out of Marshall County following Flock contract talks

MARSHALL COUNTY, Ind. -- There’s a local grassroots effort to ‘Get the Flock’ cameras out of Marshall County.

The new group, Get the Flock Out of Marshall County, Indiana’ was formed to sound the alarm about the automatic license plate reader cameras at the center of controversy across the country.

The flock camera in Plymouth off South Michigan Street was the site of the group’s first protest over the weekend.

Members say their goal is to inform others about the cameras and make them question whether they approve of this kind of technology on their streets.

“Our daughters, we always told them, Plymouth is home,” says Don Nunemaker, a member of Get the Flock Out of Marshall County

Nunemaker has called Plymouth home his whole life, except for the 22 years he was deployed in the military.

Now, he says driving down the streets where he grew up feels different.

He feels like he’s being watched.

“It’s not Flock Safety; it’s Flock Surveillance,” Nunemaker says.

Nunemaker first learned about Flock when he signed off on a camera being placed outside the church where he is pastor.

But now, a year later, he's trying to find a way to legally take it down.

“It was after that, when I found out there was more to it than just taking pictures of license plates, so I was bamboozled,” Nunemaker admits.

He’s far from the only one in Marshall County questioning what Flock cameras are really meant to do and whether they violate the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure.

“There were over 500,000 hits on our cameras last month,” says Jesse Bohannon, Marshall County District 3 Commissioner.

Marshall County Commissioner Jesse Bohannon says instead of outright terminating the county’s contract with Flock, the Board of Commissioners decided to terminate its automatic renewal in their August 17th meeting.

The contract was automatically renewed last year and goes until September of 2027, but he says the county-level conversations about Flock are far from over.

“We have to make a proactive decision, are we going to continue to operate with Flock or are we going to end the contract?” asks Bohannon.

It’s a step in the right direction, according to Nunemaker.

“It’s a step,” says Nunemaker. “As soon as people begin to realize the overreach that it is, then we’ll have people changing their minds about the effectiveness.”

There are about 25 cameras in Marshall County, but the county oversees only six of them, which costs the county about 20 thousand dollars.

Get The Flock Out of Marshall County will protest again on Saturday, September 5th from 10a and 2p.