TOLEDO — Two Toledo City Council members want the city to end its relationship with Flock Safety and physically remove the license-plate-reader cameras posted across Toledo.
The proposal, introduced Oct. 9, would terminate the city’s contracts with the camera company. Council is expected to vote on an emergency resolution at its Oct. 20 meeting.
More than 100 Flock cameras operate across the city, and they have been a flashpoint for months. Privacy advocates question who controls the collected data and how it is shared with other agencies, including federal immigration authorities — arguing that warrantless vehicle tracking changes the relationship between citizens and government. On Sept. 22, council unanimously ordered an independent audit of the system.
Supporters, including the Toledo police patrolmen’s association, call the cameras one of the department’s best crime-fighting tools. A packed Sept. 28 public hearing drew residents on both sides of the issue.
The termination push comes just months after council voted 8-4 in late June to renew the Flock contract for another year. Nationally, Flock has shortened its default license-plate data retention from 30 days to 7 days in response to criticism — a change advocates say doesn’t go far enough.