COLUMBUS — The city of Columbus has blinded its controversial Flock Safety license plate reader cameras while it investigates an officer accused of misusing the system. But even if Columbus dumps the technology entirely, the company’s surveillance web will remain firmly embedded across central Ohio.
The 66 cameras Columbus covered are only a fraction of the more than 700 Flock cameras The Columbus Dispatch has documented across the region. Records gathered from nearly 40 local agencies show the solar-powered cameras have proliferated quietly over the past several years — on poles at private businesses, schools, apartment buildings and subdivisions in every city in Franklin County and many surrounding villages and townships. Police say the readers are invaluable for criminal leads and finding missing people, but opposition has reached a fever pitch amid misuse allegations and fears of widespread surveillance.
A Columbus officer is accused of running a license plate through the system hundreds of times with no law enforcement purpose. Two Reynoldsburg officers resigned during misuse investigations, and a July city audit found more than 15,000 possibly immigration-related searches of Columbus Flock data in violation of city law. Meanwhile, the Atlanta-based company — valued at more than $8 billion — is offering voluntary buyouts to its 1,500 employees, according to Wired, as national scrutiny of its business intensifies.