Ohio stands as one of the most heavily surveilled states in the nation, with 62.4 cameras for every 100,000 residents as of August 17. The growing deployment of these technologies, particularly automated license plate readers (ALPRs) like those from Flock Safety, is drawing considerable interest from both local residents and officials, reflecting increasing national concerns.
Police departments are increasingly using ALPRs, powered by artificial intelligence, to track drivers. According to the ACLU, these devices are often deployed "without a warrant, probable cause, or even reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing," operating with minimal oversight or regulation. Flock Safety, one of the largest ALPR vendors, installs solar-powered, teardrop-shaped cameras that capture images of all passing vehicles, recording their make, model, and other identifying characteristics. Any law enforcement agency with a Flock contract can access the company's nationwide database without requiring a warrant.
Beyond vehicle identification, Flock cameras also track people. Data reviewed by 404 Media revealed that the company's "FreeForm search" feature has enabled police departments to search the database using descriptive phrases such as "male with tattoos" and "person on skateboard." The open-source project DeFlock, which maps license plate readers, has identified more than 128,000 ALPRs across the United States.
Despite widespread deployment, no independent research has demonstrated that ALPRs can effectively reduce crime. Conversely, evidence points to an alarmingly high error rate for the technology. An analysis conducted by the Roseville, California police department, for instance, found that 71 percent of Flock's alerts to the department incorrectly flagged vehicles as stolen or involved in a felony. This technology, far from promoting public safety, has been linked to wrongful arrests, profiling, and numerous other abuses.
Reports indicate that Flock has shared license plate data with federal authorities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Mounting privacy concerns over data control and sharing prompted Los Angeles to suspend its use of Flock cameras. Court records obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation documented Texas deputies searching 83,000 Flock cameras nationwide to track a Texas woman across state lines based on an allegation that she "had an abortion." In Dunwoody, Georgia, a public records request revealed Flock employees accessing cameras in children's spaces at a community center during sales demonstrations. Other reporting has found instances of law enforcement officers misusing the Flock system to stalk former partners.
In response to these issues, more communities are organizing and actively resisting this unregulated AI technology. As a result, at least 100 cities have rejected ALPRs, with the majority being Flock cameras. However, Flock represents only one component of a larger surveillance infrastructure. Cities could readily replace Flock cameras with devices from competing companies such as Axon, Motorola Solutions, or Genetec, as some have already done.
Mass surveillance itself remains the core issue. An increasing number of companies collect personal data through various means, including cellular networks, facial recognition, surveillance cameras, and ALPRs. The U.S. government subsequently acquires vast quantities of this data from commercial data brokers without obtaining warrants, thereby circumventing Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Additionally, multiple federal agencies now possess extensive access to Americans' sensitive personal data through systems developed by the Big Tech company Palantir, following an executive order in 2025 that expanded data sharing across agencies. This expanding mass surveillance, which an OtherWords columnist described as eroding privacy, freedom, and the Constitution, necessitates comprehensive oversight and regulation of the entire surveillance industry and the government agencies that utilize it.
