MARION, Ohio — Residents in Marion, Ohio, are pushing back against the use of Flock Safety camera technology, bringing concerns about privacy and government surveillance before local officials.
Video circulating from meetings during the week of Aug. 3 shows residents addressing local officials about the technology and questioning its use in the community.
Flock Safety systems include automated license plate recognition technology capable of capturing information about vehicles traveling past cameras. The technology has become the subject of growing debate nationally, with law enforcement agencies pointing to its usefulness in investigations while privacy advocates and residents in some communities have raised concerns about how vehicle data is collected, accessed and shared.
The issue is not new in Marion. Official Marion City Council records show the city’s Municipal Services, Parks and Recreation Committee held a discussion specifically about Flock cameras and automated license plate recognition technology in February. A Flock camera representative was then listed as a possible agenda item for committee meetings in March, followed by another Flock camera discussion on March 16.
The latest public opposition comes as communities elsewhere in the country are also reconsidering or debating the technology over questions involving privacy, data sharing and the extent to which vehicle movements should be recorded by networked camera systems.
River News could not independently verify from currently available city records that Marion officials have made a final decision to remove, expand or otherwise change the city’s use of Flock cameras following the residents’ objections.
The debate highlights a broader question facing communities using automated license plate readers: how to balance their potential value to law enforcement with residents’ concerns about privacy, oversight and the collection of vehicle-location information.
