Flock Cameras in Dayton, Ohio

The short version

Dayton, Ohio indefinitely suspended its fixed automated license plate reader program on May 1, 2026, pending an independent review.

WYSO and Dayton Daily News both reported that Dayton officials said an internal review found roughly 7,100 search requests citing immigration-related purposes from outside law enforcement agencies.

Dayton Daily News later reported that city workers covered the city's Flock cameras with black plastic bags while the program remained suspended and the city weighed the next step.

What Dayton said went wrong

According to WYSO, Dayton Police said a former commander in the Support Services Division did not implement safeguards restricting who could access data collected by the cameras.

Dayton Daily News reported that a network sharing feature had been enabled, allowing data to be accessed more broadly than city leaders intended or authorized.

Outgoing Police Chief Kamran Afzal said at the May 1 briefing that Dayton could not confirm whether other agencies took action based on city data, and that there was no evidence Dayton officers misused the data.

The immigration issue

The core Dayton problem was not merely that the cameras existed. It was that city policy and public promises said the data would not be used for immigration enforcement, while audit records showed immigration-related searches.

Dayton Daily News reported that Dayton's policy said ALPRs would not be used for immigration enforcement and that data would not be shared with agencies whose primary purpose is enforcing immigration laws.

The same report said city officials had previously told residents the Flock contract included provisions against searches involving immigration, reproductive rights, and other specific cases.

Why the camera count matters

Dayton Daily News reported that Dayton's program included 72 fixed-site ALPR cameras.

The paper also reported that Dayton had received an $88,500 grant in January 2026 to expand the ALPR program with 27 new cameras.

That makes Dayton bigger than a small pilot. When a network that large is open to outside searches, the oversight question becomes immediate: who can search it, for what reason, and who checks the reasons afterward.

Why Dayton covered the cameras

After the suspension, Dayton Daily News reported that all city Flock cameras were covered with black plastic bags.

A city spokesperson told the paper all cameras had been covered, and representatives of the city manager's office said the suspended cameras were not active.

That visual matters because it shows a practical problem cities can face after a surveillance vote. Turning off a system politically is not always the same as removing public doubt that the system is physically, contractually, and technically shut down.

What Flock says about auditability

Flock's public License Plate Reader Policy says all LPR queries are stored for auditing purposes, including username, date, time, purpose of query, and the license plate or other elements used to query the system.

The policy says that data is stored to facilitate audits conducted under each customer's policies, and Flock encourages customers to adopt a use policy and regular auditing schedule.

Flock's Trust Center also says every search is recorded and can be reviewed, and that customers control their own data and choose whether to share through a broader network.

The public-records fight

Dayton Daily News reported that the Dayton Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, and other regional police departments denied public-records requests seeking audit information about Flock ALPR data use and sharing.

The agencies said the records were confidential or exempt, while Dayton Daily News disputed those assertions.

That is a key civic lesson from Dayton. Audit logs only create accountability if someone can review enough of them to verify whether the stated policy matched actual use.

What other cities should learn

Dayton had a local surveillance ordinance, public hearings, a usage policy, an impact report process, and promises about immigration limits. The failure still happened, according to city officials.

That does not mean every Flock system will fail the same way. It means a city should not treat written policy as the finish line.

Before approving or renewing Flock, councils should require proof of active sharing settings, outside-agency access lists, audit schedules, public reporting rules, and a shutdown plan that explains exactly what happens if the city suspends the system.

The bottom line

Dayton is one of the clearest examples of the gap between policy control and system control.

The city said its rules were supposed to block immigration use, then officials disclosed thousands of immigration-related searches against its ALPR data. The response was suspension, outside review, community meetings, covered cameras, and a pending final decision by the City Commission.

For cities considering Flock cameras, Dayton's lesson is blunt: do not ask only what the policy says. Ask what the settings, audit logs, sharing network, public-records access, and emergency shutoff path prove.

Sources used

WYSO, Dayton suspends automated license plate readers after 'egregious' data sharing violations, May 1, 2026: https://www.wyso.org/news/2026-05-01/dayton-suspends-automated-license-plate-readers-after-egregious-data-sharing-violations

Dayton Daily News, Dayton suspends Flock license plate readers, says data used for immigration enforcement, May 2, 2026: https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/dayton-suspends-license-plate-readers-says-data-used-for-immigration-enforcement/article_14a3f629-ac59-57cd-91e8-c53ed5619971.html

Dayton Daily News, City covers all Flock cameras amid program suspension, May 27, 2026: https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/city-covers-all-flock-cameras-amid-program-suspension/article_01aa7687-f68e-5443-b102-d98dd38ed9b6.html

Dayton Daily News, Area police share license plate reader data for immigration, unstated reasons, records show, May 20, 2026: https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/area-police-share-license-plate-reader-data-for-immigration-unstated-reasons-records-show/article_45511d7d-c316-5d41-9391-a54d196aa2b1.html

Flock Safety, License Plate Reader Policy: https://www.flocksafety.com/legal/lpr-policy

Flock Safety, Privacy, Data & Civil Liberties Policies: https://www.flocksafety.com/trust