Activists are renewing their calls for stronger policy and more transparency around police surveillance after the release of the audit of Flock surveillance cameras on Friday afternoon by the Columbus Division of Police.
The division’s summary analysis of the audit said the Columbus police network was searched for possible immigration-related reasons up to 15,577 times, which prompted Mayor Andrew Ginther to order Columbus police to stop statewide sharing for Flock cameras, which are automated license plate readers often mounted on poles.
Paul Shannon, the founder of the Upper Arlington chapter of DeFlock, a watchdog group, said this is only more proof that stronger policies and laws regarding police surveillance are needed.
“That sort of back door into immigration searches is really concerning,” Shannon said. “It’s just a totally opaque system where we really don't have an idea of what they’re doing.”
He said the current system Flock uses, which relies on officers to accurately self-report the reason for their searches, isn’t a strong enough safeguard.
“In the simplest terms, the honor system is not working,” Shannon said. “It's just the text box, right? The officer can put in anything they want.”
Shannon hopes this audit will push Columbus City Council to take a more critical look at the city’s contract with Flock. Several council members have expressed their growing concern about the technology, which prompted Columbus City Councilmember Emmanuel Remy to ask Columbus police to perform the audit.
Remy has said he wants to hold a public hearing about the audit. Columbus City Council is on recess until Aug. 24.
Shannon said Upper Arlington should follow Columbus’ lead and perform an audit of its own network. He added that he requested Upper Arlington’s audit logs in June and has not yet received those records.