Featured image: Toledo skyline along the Maumee River, July 2022, by MrJacon000, via Wikimedia Commons.

Toledo is one week from deciding the fate of its Flock license-plate cameras. City Council is set to take up Resolution R-435-26 on Nov. 4 — a measure asking the city to terminate and decline to renew every agreement with Flock Group Inc., remove or switch off the equipment, and delete the data the cameras have generated, consistent with applicable law.

The resolution was filed Oct. 9 and sponsored by Councilmembers Comives, Gaddis, Driscoll, Jones and Kramer. On Oct. 20, the resolution failed to get the nine votes needed for immediate consideration, so it was held to Nov. 4 without a vote on its substance.

Incoming Police Chief Kevin Braun, who takes over Nov. 1, called the cameras “by far the most useful tool that we have ever had on this department,” saying detectives use them in just about every case, per WTOL 11 reporting. Councilman George Sarantou, a proponent, said Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz assured him he favors “retaining and maintaining” the system, and quoted outgoing Chief Mike Troendle warning of an uptick in crime if the contract were canceled. Councilman Adam Martinez called the resolution “political theater” and had previously proposed expanding Flock equipment in his district.

Sponsors cite privacy, civil liberties, data security, data retention and oversight concerns, including collecting information on people not suspected of any crime. Council also approved a request Sept. 22 for an audit of how the cameras are used, including searches by city employees, access by outside agencies and controls meant to catch misuse. Opponents of immediate action said the auditor’s Flock audit must be completed first. At least seven Flock cameras in the Toledo area have been vandalized in recent months, per WTOL.

The Nov. 4 vote comes the day after Election Day. The resolution urges the mayor to act; it does not by itself cancel a contract.

Sources: Toledo Free Press; Lake Erie Inquiry. Related: TARTA rides free on Election Day in Toledo.