Kent County Sheriff’s Office says Flock cameras are being destroyed, then lectures people on how to protest through “appropriate channels”

There was a recent story on WOODTV8 about how there have been some flock cameras in Kent County that have been damaged, even “sawed down like a tree.”

Flock cameras have been around in Kent County since at least 2022, when the Kent County Sheriff’s Office began a contract with a company that provides the Flock camera technology. The Kent County Sheriff’s Department has been using 25 cameras that are spread around Kent County, cameras that relay information about vehicles and license plate numbers.

In the same WOODTV8 story the reporter spoke with Kent County Sheriff’s Capt. Joel Roon who said “the camera had just been replaced after it was smashed. He also said there are better ways for the public to voice their concerns about the devices.” Roon goes on to say:

“We really welcome those conversations. There’s definitely a right way to protest and express your opinion and we just really encourage people to do that through appropriate channels like township meetings or county board meetings or even just voicing those concerns right here to our office. Those are the hard conversations that really put the guardrails in place.”

I have two things to say in response to Captain Roon’s comments. First, the Kent County Sheriff officer has to know that since February of 2025 there have been demands from Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE to not share Flock camera images with ICE, something that has been happening in other communities across the country.

In fact, Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have attended at least 6 Kent County Commission meetings since last year, all with demands to adopt 6 sanctuary policies, one of which is to never share Flock camera images with ICE. In addition, these two groups have gone to the Chair of the Kent County Commission’s home to deliver a letter asking that he get his fellow commissioners to adopt these sanctuary policies. This action was taken since the Kent County Commission has refused to address these issues. Then in April, 4 activists were arrested during the Kent County Commission meeting, specifically to push the sanctuary policies that the Kent County Commission has chosen to ignore.

My other response to Captain Roon is that when he or anyone else in positions of power make these kinds of statements it suggests that there is a right way and a wrong way to make change. This is absurd, since most of US history is filled with examples of people taking matters into their own hands to make changes that governments fail to make. It’s called Direct Action.

The fact that the Kent County Sheriff’s office didn’t address the history of public opposition to Flock cameras for the past 18 months is not surprising, since they don’t want any attention on them and the tools they use to monitor and repress people in Kent County.

It’s also unfortunate, but expected, that WOODTV8 did not present information on the Cosecha/GR Rapid Response to ICE sanctuary policies campaign that includes Flock cameras. You can’t expect people to follow the rules of an undemocratic system, which consistently ignores public demands and not expect people to take matters into their own hands.

In case anyone was wondering, I posted a story last year with all of the Flock camera locations in Grand Rapids.