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Residents urge Berea to reconsider Flock license amid privacy concerns
Summary
Two residents told council they oppose Flock license-plate recognition cameras, describing them as mass surveillance and citing news reports they say show problematic executive behavior; they asked council to discuss nonrenewal and to consider privacy implications.
During the public-comment portion of the July 21 meeting, two Berea residents urged council to revisit the city's relationship with Flock, a license-plate reader and camera vendor.
Aaron Schafer said he previously spoke to council about the technology and told members he had become more concerned after reading independent reporting about Flock executives. "He called people that oppose Flock terrorists," Schafer said, describing comments by a company executive he said were aimed at critics. Schafer also asserted that an executive accessed a camera used in a children's gymnasium hundreds of times in a demo; he asked council to "truly, deeply, critically consider" whether to renew the city's contract with Flock.
Shane Morris, who also spoke during public comment, said Flock deployment amounts to "mass surveillance" and described police work that relies on community liaison rather than automated plate readers. "It's mass surveillance. It's lazy police work," Morris said, and urged council to use its budget authority to cut off the program if the council sees fit. Councilmembers thanked the speakers but did not take immediate action or schedule a staff report specifically on Flock during the meeting.
