In Dayton, Ohio, city workers recently climbed ladders and pulled trash bags over license plate readers installed years earlier.
The security cameras weren’t broken. They weren’t being removed, either.
The black plastic bags have become the latest symbol of a growing conflict with Flock Safety, the Atlanta-based company whose automated license plate readers have spread rapidly across the US and sparked mounting backlash from some residents, local officials, and privacy advocates.
The conflict in Dayton stemmed from an internal police department review that found, as City Manager Shelley Dickstein described in a May 1 press conference, “egregious violations” of city policy, including thousands of immigration-related search requests from various law enforcement agencies, the Dayton Daily News reported.
Flock said its data-sharing practices comply with federal law and that removing the technology could have public-safety consequences.
“We always want to ensure that a city fully understands the impact of their decision before Flock cameras are turned off,” a Flock spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider. “The data shows that crime goes up when Flock is not in use — for example, Richmond, CA said they saw a 33% spike in auto thefts during the time cameras were off, and just last week in Austin, TX, local law enforcement said multiple violent incidents would’ve ended much earlier if the city had Flock cameras.”
The spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics of Dayton and other cities’ disputes, saying that any continuation or removal of the service or the cameras must be conducted in accordance with each municipal contract.
Immigration-related searches are not the only source of scrutiny facing Flock’s license plate readers. Earlier this year, a Business Insider investigation found that Flock cameras had incorrectly flagged vehicles in some cases because of license plate misreads, raising concerns among civil-liberties advocates about how errors in automated surveillance systems can affect drivers.
Flock has said its system includes human review safeguards and that the technology is designed to support investigations rather than serve as the sole basis for enforcement decisions.
Privacy concerns spreading nationwide
The conflict isn’t limited to Ohio. Communities from Verona, Wisconsin, to Boulder, Colorado, and Evanston, Illinois, have spent months battling over whether the cameras should remain online, who can access the data they collect, and how quickly cities can force Flock to take the devices down.
In some places, disputes have escalated beyond city hall meetings and contract negotiations, with city workers or residents covering the cameras or demanding their removal altogether. The Colorado Sun reported that two Boulder residents filed suit against the local police department, alleging its use of the cameras amounts to unlawful surveillance.
The tension underscores a broader national debate over surveillance technology that law enforcement agencies say helps solve crimes and critics argue can enable invasive tracking and data-sharing abuses.
More cities have begun reconsidering or canceling contracts with Flock following controversies over how license plate data was accessed and shared.
Matthew Jonas/MediaNews Group/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images
In Dayton, the cameras remain physically installed while reviews continue, leading city crews to cover them after residents questioned whether they were still collecting information.
Evanston officials moved to terminate their contract with Flock last August after a state audit found the company had shared Illinois license plate data with federal agencies during a pilot program, according to city statements reported by the Evanston Round Table.
The city deactivated its network and was working to remove the cameras, though Flock later reinstalled the devices without the city’s approval, leading Evanston officials to send a cease-and-desist letter to the company, the Round Table reported in September. The final two devices were removed in March, after the outlet sent an inquiry to Flock asking why they hadn’t been removed yet.
Representatives for Dayton and Evanston did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent over the weekend.
