Ohio attorney general candidates call for statewide safeguards on Flock surveillance cameras

Ohio’s candidates for attorney general are calling for stronger statewide safeguards on police use of Flock license plate reader cameras as reports of misuse and questions over access to the growing surveillance network draw scrutiny across the state.

Republican State Auditor Keith Faber and Democratic Upper Arlington attorney John Kulewicz both support continued law enforcement use of the cameras while calling for stronger rules governing how officers can search the system and who can access the information it collects.

“As a civil libertarian, I am somebody who is concerned about Big Brother,” Faber told WCMH-TV/NBC4. “But in the end, we want to make sure that the law enforcement has the tools to solve crimes.”

Faber distinguished between police searching for a specific vehicle at a particular place and time and using Flock data to build what he described as a “mosaic” of an individual’s movements. He said the latter should require a warrant.

Faber also called existing safeguards established by individual police departments “a little soft” and said he would work with lawmakers and law enforcement to establish stronger protections in state law.

“If you put it in the code, it is certainly more firm than if you just ask departments to have interdepartmental rules,” Faber said.

Kulewicz also supports continued use of the cameras but called for greater public access to records showing when law enforcement searches the system and why.

“It’s important that the public have access and robust access to search data to be able to tell when searches have been performed and the purpose for which they were performed,” Kulewicz told NBC4.

Kulewicz said he favors a uniform statewide policy rather than allowing individual departments to establish different standards. If lawmakers have not acted by the time he takes office, Kulewicz said he would convene a task force to develop one.

Their proposals come amid increasing scrutiny of Flock cameras following reports of improper and poorly documented searches in Ohio and elsewhere.

As Ohio.News previously reported, an audit found Columbus’ Flock network had been searched more than 15,000 times for reasons potentially related to immigration enforcement. None came directly from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but Columbus police have since disabled nationwide and statewide sharing and moved toward individually approving agencies that can access the city’s data.

Concerns have also surfaced in Akron, where an investigation by Signal Akron found more than 37,000 searches during a five-month period in 2025 without a discernible reason documented, despite department policy requiring one. Akron has since tightened its search requirements.

Nationally, a Washington Post investigation found at least 50 law enforcement officers had been charged with or accused of misusing automated license plate reader systems, including 46 cases involving Flock. In several cases, authorities accused officers of using the technology to monitor current or former romantic partners for personal reasons.

Flock has said that misuse accounts for a small fraction of its users and has introduced optional auditing tools to identify suspicious searches.

Police officials have defended the technology as an important crime-fighting tool. Columbus police reported Flock was involved in 49% of homicide arrests during the first half of 2026 and have pointed to its use in locating missing people and identifying criminal suspects.

Columbus currently has no ordinance specifically regulating automated license plate reader technology, while the city’s contract with Flock expires in December.