Several Cleveland City Council members at a committee meeting Thursday gave a cold reception to the proposal by Mayor Justin Bibb's administration to extend the city's contract with Flock Safety for vehicle surveillance cameras.
They questioned whether the city is getting any return for the money it is spending on the cameras. The room was packed largely with opponents of the controversial technology.
Three of the four council members who voted during Wednesday鈥檚 Safety Committee meeting opposed extending the contract.
A 鈥渘o鈥� vote in committee doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean the legislation is dead. It can still be moved forward by the committee chair for additional votes in finance committee and then, potentially, by the full council.
There are about 100 Flock cameras in Cleveland.
鈥淚 understand the concerns that you have,鈥� said Councilmember Mike Polensek, the committee chair, who was the only 鈥測es鈥� vote. 鈥淚 will be discussing this with [Council President Blaine Griffin] about what additional action we should be taking.鈥�
Flock first came to Cleveland in 2023. The city spent $250,000 a year on the contract, following council鈥檚 approval of an ordinance that did not mention Flock by name, but authorized a contract whose description made it sound like an information technology upgrade and said nothing about surveillance.
Flock cameras capture photos of every car that passes, storing information on the license plate number, model, color and other identifying characteristics of a vehicle, like bumper stickers or roof racks.
Without obtaining a search warrant, officers can search the database in their department and any other police department nationwide to learn where a suspect vehicle has traveled.
The technology, known as ALPRs, has come under fire nationwide for ; , including Cleveland, with policies against police departments actively assisting immigration authorities; and .
Cleveland Police officials told council they consider Flock an essential tool and the city has put safeguards in place to prevent misuse.
鈥淟osing this technology would be very crippling,鈥� said Safety Director Wayne Drummond. 鈥淭here are multiple cases that are currently being prosecuted, right now being investigated, helping our officers make some significant arrests.鈥�
The department provided anecdotal evidence 鈥� including the location of missing children transported over state lines and the tracking of a rented vehicle driven by a murder suspect 鈥� that were solved with the help of Flock, but did not provide data on stolen vehicles recovered or the technology鈥檚 effects on crime rates since its adoption in Cleveland.
鈥淵ou didn鈥檛 show us any numbers,鈥� said Councilmember Kevin Conwell. 鈥淗ow did it help us, in how many court cases? You got to be able to show supporting evidence behind every one of your claims to me.鈥�
Deputy Chief Jarod Schlacht told council he would provide those numbers and that Cleveland officers conduct, on average, 12,000 Flock searches a month.
鈥淚 can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt 鈥� any crime that has a vehicle associated with it, we are using this system to get a high-quality investigation lead,鈥� said Schlacht.
But council members were not convinced that more surveillance technology benefits most Clevelanders.
Councilmember Stephanie Howse-Jones focused on the more than 3,000 surveillance cameras the city has installed, not just Flock cameras, beginning in the Frank Jackson administration. Her ward has more cameras than any other in the city, yet residents don鈥檛 feel safe, said Howse-Jones.
鈥淚 am not voting for this legislation, I am not going to support this, because we as a city have totally dropped the ball on true investments for violence prevention and real enforcement to the things that can improve the quality of life for Clevelanders,鈥� she said.
The city鈥檚 contract with Flock expires on June 29. Cleveland is still planning to put out a request for proposals to expand its ALPR network and combine the technology with its gunshot detection system, which is currently provided by SoundThinking, the company that makes ShotSpotter.
