Flock Cameras in Lucas County, Ohio | stopflock419 Skip to main content<br>Chat with us on Discord! ↗<br>Menu

Driving down a major Lucas County road? You were just recorded in a nationwide database!<br>Driving down Sylvania? Sylvania?<br>You were just recorded in a nationwide database !

Oh I'm sorry, I thought this was America!

AI License Plate Readers (ALPRs) record a passing vehicle’s plate, location, and time. These cameras are<br>part of a broader AI surveillance platform; Flock’s patent describes facial recognition and the ability to<br>search for people across camera networks. Read the documents.

and you’re paying for them!

See the local map →<br>Email us to join the local effort ↗<br>Chat with us on Discord! ↗

Flock in one minute. Link to this section

Watch on YouTube ↗

Update: The January 2025 ReasonTV Short cites an estimate of 40,000<br>Flock cameras across the U.S.; our July 19, 2026 community map snapshot contains 117,450<br>mapped ALPR observations nationwide. These figures are not apples-to-apples: the map is<br>not an official Flock inventory and does not show that every point is a Flock camera or<br>active. See the map. Since the video, public records have shown local agencies running Flock searches for federal immigration<br>authorities and sharing the results. Flock says federal immigration authorities lack direct access by default, but local<br>agencies can grant access or run searches and share results with them.

You drive by<br>Running errands, going to work, picking up your kids.

Roadside camera triggers<br>Captures your image with a time and location.

Artificial intelligence model ingests<br>Reads your plate and vehicle characteristics (e.g. bumper stickers, color, roof rack, etc.).

Searchable cloud record<br>Plate, vehicle, image, time, and place become queryable fields.

so how did we get here?

City of Sylvania<br>September 18, 2023 Flock appears out of nowhere<br>A Flock representative presented to Council's Safety Committee.<br>6–0 to move the proposal forward<br>City Council minutes ↗

Flock sales rep comes to town.<br>BTW, how weird is that? Imagine a concrete or painting or tree trimming contractor coming into town from out of state without any citizens asking for it and telling our councilmembers we need to spend $97k $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ a year on their services. Unheard of!

City of Sylvania<br>October 16, 2023 Council buys the first 15 via emergency measure<br>Council authorized 15 plate cameras and software as emergency legislation. Richardson votes no. Haynem votes yes reluctantly, after previously saying he needs time to get comfortable with the idea.<br>$97,250 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ · vote 5–1<br>City Council minutes ↗ Pretty much every city in Ohio passes everything, all routine legislation, as an emergency measure. This is a separate issue, but it's extra bad when combined with rushing nationwide surveillance tech through!

Patrick Richardson cast the only no vote. He voted no again when two expansion measures came back in 2025. Thank him!

Lucas County<br>February 20, 2024 Lucas County's first Flock payment appears<br>A County report records a Flock payment charged to Sheriff Law Enforcement. The product is not identified.<br>$2,500 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ payment<br>County payment report ↗

City of Sylvania<br>May 6, 2024 Police report all 15 active<br>The first-quarter police report said the cameras were fully activated.<br>15 reported active<br>City Council packet, p. 104 ↗

City of Sylvania<br>May 19, 2025 An expenditure appears in a finance batch<br>Council approved a batch that included a January Flock camera-system expenditure.<br>$45,000 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ recorded expenditure<br>City Council packet, p. 53 ↗ · City Council minutes ↗

Lucas County<br>July 15, 2025 Commissioners approve 25 cameras<br>Commissioners approved the Sheriff's four-year agreement, which lists state and nationwide plate-lookup access.<br>25 cameras · $62,500 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ a year · $250,000 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ total<br>Commissioner minutes ↗ · Lucas County ALPR agreement ↗

Lucas County<br>July 22, 2025 Commissioners vote to reverse course<br>One week later, commissioners voted to rescind the resolution that approved the agreement.<br>Rescission passed 2–1<br>Commissioner minutes ↗

Lucas County<br>August 1, 2025 But it was too late. The Sheriff already signed.<br>The County prosecutor said the rescission could not unwind a contract the Sheriff had already executed.<br>25-reader contract continued<br>13abc report ↗ · WOSU follow-up ↗

Commissioners tried to reverse the deal one week later. The prosecutor said it was too late—the Sheriff had already signed.

City of Sylvania<br>November 17, 2025 Council authorizes more cameras and another agreement<br>One measure authorized two additional cameras. A separate measure authorized an agreement for 15 cameras and software; the minutes do not say whether it renewed the original 15 or added new units. Again, Richardson voted no.<br>$13,300 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ + $90,000 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ · each passed 6–1<br>City Council minutes, p. 6 ↗

Lucas County<br>February–June 2026 County payments complete the annual charge<br>Two County...