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Surveillance in the Grand Rapids Metro

Automated license plate readers are already in use across the Grand Rapids area. This is a running record of known deployments by jurisdiction and vendor, summarized from public reporting and government records, so residents can see the full picture.

City of Kentwood, Kent CountyAxon EnterpriseMobile ALPR (patrol fleet)

Kentwood Police to Mount License Plate Readers on Every Patrol Car

Kentwood is equipping its entire police patrol fleet with automatic license plate readers (ALPRs). Once installed, the car-mounted cameras scan every passing vehicle whenever a cruiser is in service, recording each plate along with the vehicle's make, model, and color, then matching it against the registered owner's name from the Michigan Secretary of State.

Records not tied to an investigation are kept for 30 days. But once a plate is linked to a crime or investigation, the data can be retained anywhere from 180 days to as long as 20 years, depending on the offense. The department is expanding from roughly 24 patrol vehicles to as many as 35, so the mobile scanning network is set to grow.

The readers are one component of a $5.9 million, 10-year contract with Axon Enterprise, approved by the Kentwood City Commission on December 3, 2024 and partially funded by a public-safety millage that voters passed in spring 2024. The same contract covers body cameras, tasers, virtual-reality training, and AI-assisted report writing.

This is layered on top of existing fixed surveillance. Kentwood already installed 10 stationary Flock Safety cameras across the city in 2023. Both the Kent County Sheriff's Office and the neighboring city of Wyoming also contract with Flock Safety. The result is an overlapping web of two vendors and multiple jurisdictions collecting vehicle-movement data across the Grand Rapids metro.

Why it matters

Mobile ALPRs turn every patrol car into a roving scanner, extending surveillance beyond the fixed camera sites residents might learn to expect. Combined with the fixed Flock network already operating in Kentwood, Wyoming, and the county, a driver moving through the metro can be recorded repeatedly by different systems, with the data retained and searchable.

Source: Melissa Frick, "Kentwood, Mich., Patrol Cars Getting License Plate Readers," Government Technology / mlive, January 10, 2025

Cost detail

Kentwood Flock Safety ALPR Camera Program

10 cameras in operation; SCI funded 10 additional (20 total). FY2026 budget confirms the 10 new cameras were installed in FY2024–25.

cameras
20cameras
per camera / year
$3,500per camera / year
over six years
$430,500over six years

How the math works: 20 cameras × $3,500/yr = $70,000/yr recurring; FY2024–25 adds $7,000 in one-time implementation fees (10 new cameras × $700).

FY 2024–25$77,000

Includes one-time implementation fees for 10 new cameras ($70,000 recurring + $7,000 implementation)

FY 2025–26$70,000
FY 2026–27$70,000
FY 2027–28$70,000
FY 2028–29$70,000
FY 2029–30$73,500

Reflects ~$3,500 (one camera-year) above the flat rate; basis not itemized in the SCI

Six-year total (Flock-specific)$430,500

Funding source: Police & Fire Millage Fund via the Police Equipment Fund (plus grants and other sources)

How to read these figures

The budget does not itemize Flock separately. The ~$70,000/year figures come from the Schedule of Capital Improvements (Exhibit G, Police Equipment Fund). The FY2026 budget shows the Police Equipment Fund transfer rising from $1,840,400 (FY2025) to $3,793,700 (FY2026) but does not isolate the Flock line.

Sources:

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