Flock License Plate Readers & Dragnet Surveillance in Ohio. #acluohio #Flock #dragnet #surveillance
The short version: ACLU of Ohio's Court of Public Opinion series tackles Flock Safety's dragnet ALPR network, adding a civil-liberties voice to Ohio's growing surveillance debate.
Our Take
Credit where it's due: ACLU of Ohio is using its Court of Public Opinion series to put Flock Safety's license plate reader network in front of a wider audience, framing it correctly as a dragnet — not a targeted tool aimed at specific suspects, but a system that logs everyone's movements by default. That distinction matters, because it's the crux of the whole fight. A camera that only checks plates against a hot list during an active investigation is fundamentally different from a camera that stores every plate, every time, indefinitely, for any agency with database access to query later.
What makes Ohio worth watching is that it's one of many states where this infrastructure went in with little public debate, buried in city council consent agendas or sold as a simple crime-fighting upgrade. Once a network like this exists, mission creep is not hypothetical — it's the default trajectory, from local police to federal partners to whoever else gets a login. Advocacy groups asking basic questions about retention, access logs, and audit trails are doing work that city councils should have done before signing the contract.
If you're in Ohio or anywhere else, the first step is knowing what's actually deployed near you. Check our camera map to see documented Flock locations, and if you want to push back on a deployment in your own community, our take-action page has the tools to get started.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of acluohio, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.