Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey paused all 75 of the county's Flock license-plate reader cameras on Thursday, Sept. 3. She cited unanswered questions about who can search the data and where it goes after collection.

The move affects every township and municipality that relied on the sheriff's network, including Sycamore Township. As we reported Sept. 3, Blue Ash operates its own Flock cameras separately and plans to keep them running.

McGuffey called the action a pause, not a cancellation. She said the situation is serious enough that the cameras will stay dark until stronger guardrails are in place, according to WLWT.

The sheriff said she wants Flock Safety to spell out exactly which outside agencies can access plate data collected in Hamilton County. She also plans to press Ohio lawmakers to write statewide regulations governing the technology, she told WCPO.

No timeline has been set for resuming the cameras.

The 75-camera network costs roughly $225,000 a year. Each camera runs about $3,000 annually, according to sheriff's office officials. Townships and villages reimburse the county for cameras in their areas. McGuffey said the county can stop payments to Flock during the pause, and that cloaking or removing the cameras will not cost extra under the contract.

Hamilton County launched the network in 2022 with 25 grant-funded cameras. Major Tony Orue of the sheriff's office confirmed the county controls all 75 units, even though local governments help pay for them.

McGuffey stressed that no Hamilton County deputies misused the system. WLWT reported the announcement landed the same day Columbus paused its own Flock program while investigating an officer's potential misuse there.

The pause also covers all 16 Flock cameras in Anderson Township. Trustee Tom Hodges had planned to request his own pause at a township meeting Thursday night before the sheriff acted first. Hodges said on Facebook on Wednesday, Sept. 2, that the technology requires meaningful regulation, clear limits and strong safeguards, according to WLWT's earlier report.

Eight other Greater Cincinnati communities ended their Flock contracts over the summer, including Newport, Fort Mitchell, Erlanger, Fort Thomas, Edgewood, Independence, Pierce Township and Oxford.

Flock Safety says more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide use its technology. The company recently reduced its default data retention period from 30 days to seven and made misuse detection mandatory for all customers.

McGuffey said she made the final decision with input from her command staff and called other agencies as a courtesy beforehand.

"I'd like to get these cameras back up as soon as I can because I know that they are very integral in solving crimes," she said. "But I want the public to feel heard."

Two Flock cameras in the Loveland area have already been damaged, McGuffey said. She warned that intentional destruction of the equipment could result in felony charges.