Blue Ash remains one of the few Greater Cincinnati communities still running Flock Safety license-plate reader cameras as cities and counties across the region end their contracts with the company.
Lebanon City Council voted Sept. 8 to remove all 20 of its Flock cameras. Trenton Police Chief Patrick Carr has scheduled a public forum on the technology for Tuesday, Sept. 15. Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey's 75-camera network, which covered Sycamore Township, has been paused since Sept. 3.
Blue Ash operates its own Flock cameras independently of the sheriff's network, as we reported Sept. 4, and has not announced any plans to pause or review the program. No public statement from the Blue Ash Police Department on the cameras appeared in available records as of Sept. 3.
The sheriff's pause left Sycamore Township without the license-plate reader coverage it had relied on. No statement from Sycamore Township officials on how the shutdown affects local policing has surfaced.
Lebanon cuts ties
Lebanon Mayor Mark Messer said the city sent Flock Safety 54 written questions on Aug. 17. Twenty-one days passed without a response, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
"We operate on public trust, you operate on public trust, and if I can't tell the public what these things are doing then I have a very hard time maintaining that type of relationship," Messer said at the Sept. 8 council meeting.
Removal of all 20 cameras began Sept. 9.
Trenton schedules forum
Carr, who also serves as president of the Butler County Police Chiefs Association, will host the Sept. 15 forum from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Trenton Council and Court Room at 11 E. State St., Fox 19 reported.
At a Trenton City Council meeting, Carr told residents that only 0.00022% of plates read by the city's 11 cameras are searched by officers. He said Trenton is restricting which outside agencies can access its data, shortening storage times and requiring officers to enter an offense type before running a search, according to WCPO.
Growing list of exits
Newport ended its Flock contract in July. Fort Mitchell, Erlanger, Fort Thomas, Independence and Edgewood followed. Oxford in Butler County and Pierce Township in Clermont County also dropped the technology.
Pierce Township trustees voted Aug. 12 to end their contract after Police Chief Paul Broxterman Jr. recommended the move, citing public concern and costs, WLWT reported.
McGuffey paused the county's 75 cameras on Sept. 3, saying she wants clearer rules on who can search the data and where it goes after collection. The network costs roughly $225,000 a year. As we reported Sept. 7, McGuffey said no deputies had misused the system but called the pause necessary while she pushes Flock and the Ohio Legislature for stronger guardrails.
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones called the cameras a necessary tool during a Facebook Live news conference.
Flock responds with policy changes
Flock Safety announced Aug. 13 that it is cutting its default data-retention period from 30 days to seven and making its misuse-detection software, called Audit Assistance, mandatory for all law enforcement customers by year's end, according to a company blog post. The update also requires case codes for searches and locks out users flagged for abnormal activity.
A police dispatcher in Highland Heights resigned after an internal audit found more than 20,000 unauthorized searches on that department's Flock system, Hoodline reported. Ohio has no statewide law capping how long license-plate reader data can be stored or requiring regular audits.
The Trenton forum on Sept. 15 is the next scheduled public event in the region where residents can weigh in.
