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MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | University of Minnesota Will Remove West Bank License-Plate Camera After Community Pushback
The Flock Safety camera near Cedar and Riverside will come down weeks after installation as questions over surveillance, immigration enforcement and data sharing spread across the Twin Cities
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (September 12, 2026). The University of Minnesota will remove a recently installed automated license-plate reader from Minneapolis' West Bank after community objections raised concerns about surveillance, privacy and the potential sharing of vehicle data with immigration enforcement.
The Flock Safety camera was installed near Cedar and Riverside avenues in late August. The university said Friday that it intends to remove the device within approximately one week.
The university operates at least 10 automated license-plate readers, or ALPRs, as part of its public-safety system. The technology photographs license plates and vehicle characteristics as cars pass a camera and allows law enforcement agencies to search collected data during investigations.
The university has maintained that its system is used for public-safety purposes and that vehicle information collected by University of Minnesota Police is owned by the department. According to the university's response reported by Axios, requests to share the information with other law-enforcement agencies undergo review.
But placement of the West Bank camera quickly became controversial.
State Rep. Mohamud Noor, whose Minneapolis district includes the Cedar-Riverside community, was among those raising concerns about the device. Critics questioned whether information gathered from a neighborhood with a large immigrant and refugee population could ultimately reach federal immigration authorities or other agencies outside the university.
The university has not said that the West Bank camera was installed for immigration enforcement, and there is no public evidence that data from that particular device was provided to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The concern instead centers on the broader architecture of networked license-plate surveillance and the ability of agencies to exchange information.
That distinction matters because automated license-plate readers do not merely operate as conventional security cameras. They create searchable records of vehicle movements, making policies governing retention, access and sharing central to the privacy debate.
The West Bank decision arrives as scrutiny of Flock Safety technology expands across the Twin Cities.
Several Minneapolis City Council members are preparing a resolution calling on both the University of Minnesota and the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office to terminate their relationships with Flock Safety, according to reporting on the university decision.
The development also follows the recent Saint Paul debate over police surveillance technology. Saint Paul city leaders halted a proposed expansion involving public-safety technology this week amid wider concerns over police surveillance and community trust.
For the University of Minnesota, the West Bank removal does not mean the end of automated license-plate readers on campus.
The larger university network remains in place.
That means the next phase of the debate is likely to focus less on one camera at Cedar and Riverside and more on the rules governing the rest of the system: where cameras are located, how long records are kept, who can search them, which outside agencies may receive information and what level of public disclosure should accompany their use.
The university said its decision to remove the West Bank camera was intended to preserve community trust.
For residents who objected to the device, its removal answers the immediate question of what happens at that intersection.
The larger question about automated surveillance in Minneapolis remains very much open.
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