City council motion looks into surveillance tech
The short version: A Cincinnati council motion finally asks the basic question cities should ask before buying surveillance tech: what do these cameras do, and who sees the data?
Our Take
Credit to FOX19 NOW for covering what should be standard practice everywhere: a city council actually asking what its cameras, drones, and license plate readers are for and who gets to see the data they collect. It's a low bar, but most municipalities clear it only after a scandal or a lawsuit forces their hand. Cincinnati asking the question up front, before the system is fully entrenched, is worth noting.
The phrase "do they share data" is the one to watch. Flock Safety and similar vendors build networks precisely so that one city's cameras can be queried by another city, a county sheriff, a federal agency, or a private investigator with the right login. Local officials often don't fully grasp how far their own data travels once it's uploaded, and residents almost never get a straight answer unless someone on council forces the issue into a public meeting.
If you live in or near Cincinnati, this is the moment to show up and ask for real answers: retention periods, who can access the system, whether it's shared across jurisdictions, and whether there's any audit trail when someone misuses it. Check our camera map to see what's already deployed near you, and use our take-action page for guidance on pushing your own council to ask the same questions before the cameras go up, not after.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of FOX19 NOW | Cincinnati, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.