Ohio attorney general discusses Flock cameras as multiple central Ohio cities pause, end use

Our Take

Credit to WBNS 10TV and reporter Lacey Crisp for getting Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson on record defending Flock Safety's ALPR network even as multiple central Ohio communities hit pause or walk away entirely. That split says everything you need to know about where this fight stands: the people closest to the cameras, city councils, residents, and local officials, are increasingly uneasy, while the state's top law enforcement official is urging everyone not to give up what he calls a "critical resource."

It's a familiar script. Officials who don't have to answer to a city council meeting or a budget line item tend to frame mass license plate tracking as a simple tool, no different than a security camera at a gas station. But a statewide network of plate readers logging every car that passes, searchable, shareable, and retained, is a categorically different thing from a single camera watching one parking lot. When local governments start pumping the brakes, that's a signal worth taking seriously, not a problem to be talked over from the AG's office.

Central Ohio residents now have a real-world example of what happens when communities actually scrutinize these contracts instead of rubber-stamping them. If your town hasn't had that conversation yet, check our map to see whether Flock is already running near you, and use our take-action resources to push your local officials to ask the same hard questions Ohio cities are asking right now.