Safety Not Surveillance Coalition Demands Central Ohio Cancel All Contracts with Flock Safety and Dismantle Its Surveillance Network

Monday, August 10
PROTEST: 3:00 PM
PRESS CONFERENCE: 3:30 PM
CITY COUNCIL HEARING: 4:00 PM
Columbus City Council, 90 West Broad Street

The Safety Not Surveillance Coalition, a group of community-based organizations who formed to coordinate anti-Flock organizing in Central Ohio and build a strategy to decrease surveillance in our communities, today issued urgent demands ahead of a City Council hearing: the immediate cancellation of all contracts with Flock Safety and the rapid dismantling of its Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) camera network throughout Central Ohio.

Flock Safety is a private surveillance company whose cameras collect data on every vehicle that passes. It records license plate numbers, timestamps, locations, and distinguishing features such as bumper stickers and dents regardless of whether the driver is suspected of any wrongdoing. Most municipalities in Central Ohio currently operate Flock cameras and OSU hosts more than 60 Flock license plate readers on or near its campus.

The Columbus City Council and Mayor Andrew Ginther have both maintained a public stance of non-cooperation with ICE since 2017. This position was reiterated in February by codifying the restriction of city resources for civil immigration enforcement, after Operation Buckeye, a week-long immigration enforcement surge in December 2025, resulted in the detainment of appx. 280 people across Ohio (240 in Central Ohio). However, recently released audit logs by the Columbus Police Department demonstrate that the city’s Flock cameras were accessed 15,557 times for immigration-related purposes from November 2023 to June 2026 - placing the city in direct violation of its own legal code.

Despite these risks, the Columbus City Council voted unanimously in June 2025 to approve the continued use of Flock Safety. The Safety Not Surveillance Coalition partners reject that decision and are calling on council members to reverse course at the August 10 hearing.

SAFETY NOT SURVEILLANCE COALITION DEMANDS

1.   Cancel all existing contracts with Flock Safety immediately.

2.   Cover the cameras immediately and dismantle them as soon as possible.

STATEMENT FROM COALITION MEMBER

“We all created this campaign with the determination that the City Council will take proper measures and actions to ensure that the City of Columbus is not being targeted. If the City Council truly stands by their statement of ensuring public safety, then accountability and transparency are vital when we discuss how Flock has impacted thousands of individuals — not only from an immigration perspective, but within day-to-day encounters.”

— Destiny, People’s Justice Project Leadership Squad

“Make no mistake, what has been happening in the City of Columbus with the direct technical support of Flock & other ALPR cameras is nothing short of a tech-coordinated ethnic cleansing and the worst is yet to come. ALPRs are fundamentally flawed and politically irredeemable, even making it unsafe for those most affected by its use to show up in person to testify in front of council. Technology should not outpace the ability of the public to participate in its management!”

— 614 ICE Watch

Central Ohioans are done being watched, tracked, and targeted. Coalition partners will continue to organize, canvass, and build community power until Flock cameras are removed from our streets. Safety not surveillance.

Coalition Members Include:

• Asian American Midwest Progressives/AAMP Ohio
• Equality Ohio
• People’s Justice Project
• Honesty for Ohio Education
• 614 ICE Watch
• OPAWL - Building AAPI Feminist Leadership
• Common Cause Ohio
• Columbus CPUSA
• The Ohio State University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP-OSU)
• DeFlock Upper Arlington
• Schools Drop ICE
• Columbus Democratic Socialists of America, City Council Non-Cooperation Campaign