FLOCKINGHELLPUBLIC MONEY / PUBLIC ROADS / PUBLIC SAY
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WHAT ACTUALLY
HAPPENED.

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Win
The jurisdiction decided against the cameras: not renewed, not pursued, or cancelled.
Partial win
Use was suspended, paused, or narrowed, but the agreement itself still stands.
Ongoing
Live dispute. A vote, a review, or a removal question is still unresolved.
Contract retained
The jurisdiction kept the cameras, whatever the public turnout looked like.
Removal verified
Reporting confirms the hardware actually came down, not just that a vote happened.
Safety review
The installation itself is under challenge on road-safety or permitting grounds, separately from any privacy or contract question.
Deployment expanded
A new contract was signed or an existing one grew. Recorded because a tracker that only counts wins is advertising.
IMAGE VIA WOSU PUBLIC MEDIA
Partial winColumbus, Ohio

An audit of Columbus's Flock network found more than 15,000 searches with a possible immigration purpose, and the mayor cut off statewide sharing

Published by
WOSU Public Media
Author
Katie Geniusz
Date
Location
Columbus, Ohio
Status
Partial win

Columbus police run 65 Flock cameras with eleven more planned. Councilmember Emmanuel Remy asked for an audit of who had been searching the network, and the July audit came back with more than 15,000 searches that appeared to have an immigration purpose. Mayor Andrew Ginther responded by ordering the department to disable Flock's statewide sharing feature. A 2017 executive order already barred city resources from being used to enforce federal immigration policy, which is what made the finding a breach of the city's own rule rather than merely an uncomfortable statistic. One detail cuts against the simplest version of this story and belongs here: the audit found no searches made directly by ICE. The searches came from elsewhere in the network, which is the point people keep missing about data sharing. A city can control what its own officers do and still have no idea who else is querying the same pool.

From the reporting

  • 65 active cameras with eleven more planned, for a total of 76.
  • The July audit found more than 15,000 searches that appeared to have an immigration purpose.
  • No searches were made directly by ICE. The number comes from other agencies with access to the shared network.
  • Mayor Andrew Ginther ordered the statewide sharing feature disabled after the audit was published.
  • A 2017 Ginther executive order already prohibited using city resources to enforce federal immigration policy.
  • The audit was requested by Councilmember Emmanuel Remy, who has publicly called Flock "a valuable tool that has helped solve many crimes".
  • Deputy Chief Tim Myers on removing the cameras: "We will solve fewer crimes. That is demonstrable and beyond dispute."
  • Filed as a partial win. Sharing was cut off; the cameras stay.

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