The City of Lakewood employs 50 Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras from surveillance vendor Flock Safety. The cameras cost $125,000 a year. In return, Lakewood Police Department receives access to Flock's nationwide system of freely searchable license plate cameras. With 80,000 ALPRs and growing, Flock's system makes it possible to trace the movements of anybody as if their car had a tracking device attached, without a warrant. Even without a license plate number, "vehicle fingerprinting" allows police to search for cars based on identifying features like dents or bumper stickers. This system is a vortex of abuse: Privacy violations, oversight circumvention, and corporate malfeasance are all things one can expect as long as Flock is present in Lakewood.

Our Demand:

That the City of Lakewood and Lakewood Police Department sever its contractual relationship with Flock Safety as soon as possible on the grounds that its product is a liability to the public and is overwhelmingly susceptible to abuse.

Why:

Our Lakewood, Our Choice:

"Home rule" is a proud tenet of local governance in Ohio that empowers municipalities to set their own law and policy without state interference. Lakewood City Council expressed faith in this principle when it passed Resolution 2026-04, which pledged to oppose the several bills in State Congress that would compel municipalities to cooperate with ICE and CBP in immigration enforcement. Flock's relaxed access policies have enabled sympathetic departments to open a "side door" for ICE to search urban areas without warrant or consent, breaking down the meaning of local policy. Even if Lakewood pledges it won't work with ICE, they need only go to the nearest town that does.

ALPRs Don't Make Us Safer:

Imagine you are driving your sister, daughter, and nieces to get their nails done. As you park at the salon, you see figures in your side-view mirrors. Before you know it, you and your family are face down on the hot tarmac with police training guns at your backs. Why? Ten minutes ago an ALPR swapped the "2" in your license plate number for a "Z" and identified your minivan as a stolen motorcycle. This story isn't a hypothetical; It happened in 2020 when police in Aurora, CO held a family at gunpoint on account of an error in an ALPR. This is one of many stories of how ALPRs have accidentally or deliberately put members of the public in danger. Other cases involve bad cops stalking their ex-girlfriends, and sheriff departments tracking women seeking abortions.

It's Expensive:

By 2028, Lakewood will have spent over $800,000 on Flock's products, which are technically leased. By the end of the contract, the City of Lakewood will have spent nearly a million dollars on a product it doesn't really own. By comparison, Lakewood purchased a surveillance system from US Protective Services in 2018 and 2019 similar in size to its Flock deployment that cost ~$188,000, paid just once. While there are always costs for upkeep and maintenance, Lakewood owns the system forever and controls the data, which is stored on city property.

Flock Lies:

Flock has proven itself resistant to transparency on multiple occasions. The company has assured the public it does not work with federal law enforcement. It went back on this assurance when it quietly let CBP use their product in a "pilot program," only admitting it when members of the public caught them. Flock also assured, in writing, that its employees are forbidden from accessing client data. It went back on this assurance when employees accessed Dunwoody, GA's Flock cameras for "training" purposes, only admitting it when members of the public caught them. This level of deception, both to the public and to its own clients, is unbecoming of a company in the security industry, and is a liability to the city and public of Lakewood.