Police Cameras in Ohio Face Big Questions

A new look at how cities use license‑reading cameras shows growing worry. Shaker Heights and Cleveland keep using a system called Flock, but many people think it is unsafe. The cameras read plates and send the data to a big database that anyone can ask for. In Shaker Heights, activists searched public records and found 273 searches in just three months. All of them were linked to immigration enforcement, a task the city says its police never do. The city only learned about this after the activists told them. The city tried to fix it by stopping immigration searches and turning off a sharing feature. But experts say the system still lets anyone make a request with any reason they choose.There are no strong rules to stop abuse. Cleveland also uses Flock, with about 100 cameras. After another city shut the system down for over 7, 000 bad searches, Cleveland says it has better controls. Yet activists point out vague labels like “investigation” make it hard to know why searches happen. A police department in Cleveland even searched for people at a political rally. That shows the cameras can be used to watch politics, not just crime. The system’s business model encourages sharing data across many cities. This can create a huge database that is hard to police. Soon Cleveland’s contract will end, and residents must decide if they trust the cameras.