The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office is pausing use of Flock Safety cameras amid growing scrutiny over the automated license plate readers.
Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey announced Thursday her department will temporarily suspend use of its 75 cameras and shut down access to the information the technology provides.
“I am using the word pause. I'm not canceling the contract,” McGuffey said. “I'm pausing our use and our ability to use this data, to capture the data.”
She adds, while the technology has helped her office solve crimes, she’s also hearing growing public concern about data safety and surveillance.
“This decision puts privacy and public trust first,” McGuffey said.
The sheriff is calling on Flock and the Ohio legislature to establish guardrails on how the private company shares its data.
“The guardrails I want in place is very clear guidelines on who this information is shared with, who it's partnered with, where it goes when it's collected with this company,” McGuffey said. “I know what we personally do with it, but it connects to a lot of technology and so forth.”
There's no timeline on when the cameras could be back up and running. The sheriff’s office says it will pause payments to Flock as it waits for answers, with McGuffey saying this is possible under the department's contract.
“We will bring [this technology] back when we have these answers, when we have guardrails, when the public is confident on how it operates,” McGuffey said.
In the meantime, the sheriff’s office is looking into whether it can place bags over the cameras or remove them entirely.
Tri-State communities from Newport to Oxford have canceled their contracts with Flock Safety, citing reasons from privacy concerns to data sharing.
Cincinnati City Council will consider a motion next week asking its administration to conduct an overview of the city’s use of surveillance technology. Cincinnati doesn't have Flock cameras, but does contract with Axon for license plate readers.
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