No Flock Rally Today In Michigan City Indiana: Hosted By Hoosier Enquirer

Michigan City, City Hall Indiana

Michigan City Hall demonstration against Flock cameras and data centers is set for Tuesday, directed by Johannes Poulard.

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — Opponents of automated license-plate readers and data-center development will gather outside Michigan City Hall on Tuesday, October 6, ahead of the Common Council meeting that is scheduled to take up both issues.

The demonstration is directed by Johannes Poulard, board secretary of the Hoosier Enquirer and a Michigan City-area resident. It is set for 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 100 E. Michigan Blvd. Organizers are calling it an “opposition demonstration against Flock cameras and data centers,” with the line “Help us stop the flock.” The council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s agenda is the reason for the timing. The council tabled until October 6 an additional appropriation of $300,000 from the city’s rainy-day fund for more Flock Safety equipment. At a September 15 public hearing, Assistant Police Chief Kyle Shiparski said the money would cover seven pan-tilt-zoom cameras along Franklin Street, a portable Flock trailer, and a drone-as-first-responder unit. He also told council members the department would add access logs and after-the-fact accountability rules.

Residents at that hearing asked the city to drop the system or put stronger public oversight on it. A smaller number spoke in support. Councilman Bryant Dabney said the cameras have helped investigations after shootings. Shiparski estimated the existing system has a “meaningful impact” on 20 to 30 cases a month. Council members tabled the ordinance so they could review the department’s proposed procedures.

The police department has used Flock cameras since 2023, expanding from an initial 30 units to about 60 point-in-time cameras. The city’s contract is about $280,000 a year. Police say plate data is kept for 30 days and used in criminal investigations. Critics say the network records the ordinary movements of residents without a warrant and that a private vendor retains the images. In the weeks after the July request, a Michigan City officer resigned after the department opened an investigation into use of the existing Flock system.

The same meeting is also expected to include a second reading of a moratorium on data centers, the other target named on the demonstration flyer.

Poulard, a Republican candidate for Indiana Senate District 4, has made police accountability and government transparency central to his public work. Local resident Carlie Dunn has separately been organizing residents against the Flock expansion, including a July Community Action meeting that reviewed the earlier $300,000 request.

The Common Council indefinitely tabled that July ordinance after public comment. The October 6 vote is the next scheduled decision on the money.

The demonstration is planned as a lead-in to public comment, not a replacement for the meeting. Council sessions are open to the public and streamed