UNION TOWNSHIP, Oh. — Debates over Flock and other Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) continue across the Tri-State, this time in Union Township.
Union Township's Board of Trustees held a work session Monday evening, which served as a two-hour town hall between elected officials, law enforcement, residents and a representative from Flock.
After the meeting began at 7 p.m., trustee and chairman Joe Dills apologized for not holding a similar meeting back in 2024, when the township first started using Flock cameras.
“If I had a mulligan, if I had a redo, we should have had this town hall two years ago and not tonight," Dills said.
Dills then handed the floor over to Union Township Police Chief Anthony Rees, who went over how his officers and detectives use Flock and the policies that his department has in place.
Watch to hear what law enforcement, residents and Flock Safety have to say about ALPRs in Union Township:
Policies included how officers log any documentation of Flock camera queries, audits and a transparency portal.
“I want the community to trust that we’re using this technology right," Rees said.
Trevor Chandler, Flock Safety's senior director of public affairs, also spoke about how the technology works.
"The township is the ones who own the data. Flock does not own this data; it's very important. It's in the contract, in our terms and conditions. Flock does not sell data," Chandler said.
Then public comment began about 30 minutes after the town hall began. One by one, residents came forward to speak. Many shared fears, worries and questions about Flock.
"This is a privacy issue. We should not be tracked, we should not be surveilled," one resident said.
"I don’t want to be followed by a surveillance technology that has artificial intelligence, learning capability," another resident said.
There were a few residents who said they supported the presence of ALPRs in the township, including township resident and former Miami Township Police Chief Mike Mills.
"I am a proponent of LPRs," Mills said.
Other residents asked whether they can decide whether the future of Flock in Union Township can go on the ballot.
"I believe the people deserve to have the final say," another Union Township resident said.
The meeting concluded with the trustees sharing their thoughts, but no decision was made.
"Second Tuesday of October, we will be making a decision of what we're doing with these Flocks," Dills said.
"Mr. Chairman, I’m prepared our next meeting to vote to ask our administrator to begin the process of shutting this system down in Union Township," trustee John Becker said.
“I know where I stand moving forward; listen to the residents," trustee Michael Logue said.
After the meeting, I spoke with the representative from Flock Safety about the feedback from residents.
"We have listened, and we're going to provide a full list of responses and feedback based on what we heard here tonight. I think the most important thing we heard is that most people believe that community safety needs to come at the expense of community values," Chandler said.
Union Township trustees meet on the second Tuesday of every month, marking Oct. 13 as the date for the next meeting.
