Columbus Division of Police audit logs show the city’s Flock camera network was used to track a Texas woman who had a self-administered abortion.
In May 2025, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office in Texas made a search on the nationwide Flock network, which had more than 83,000 cameras at the time, reporting the reason as “had abortion, search for female.” The search was first reported on by independent media outlet 404 Media, however the sheriff’s office disputes that it was looking for the woman because she had an abortion.
A partial report obtained by The Dallas Morning News said a man reported fetal remains near his residence and when officers went to investigate, they found “a large amount of blood.” According to the report, officers were concerned that the woman may have been injured, which is why the search was made using the Flock camera technology.
At the time, Columbus police shared access to its Flock network nationwide. Audit logs for May 2025 show Columbus’ Flock network returned data to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office for this search.
Restrictions on search terms for the Flock network first became available around October 2025 and Columbus police restricted searches for immigration and abortion reasons in December. On June 3, Columbus police disabled the nationwide network feature for its Flock cameras. The division no longer shares access with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman being searched for likely never left the state, however for some abortion and privacy advocates, the use of Flock’s nationwide network for this reason is highly alarming.
“It just all demonstrates and you can have any number of laws, regulations in place and they're going to find a way around them,” said Gary Daniels, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio at the Columbus Metropolitan Club forum on Wednesday. “Nobody should be surprised in any city around Ohio that no matter what policies are put in place or even laws that are put in place these types of things are still going to occur.”
Columbus City Council member Christopher Wyche was also at the forum, and said he has significant concerns about Flock’s usage in the city.
“I think you can paint a very accurate picture of somebody's life for 30 days of camera readings, as somebody who goes in and out of the city of Columbus, Worthington, Dublin. I see the cameras, so I know that it is tracking me back and forth on where I'm going,” Wyche said. “I have some significant concerns. I would love to see a lot of reform, but as far as me, I don't know if I will ever be able to get there, because I do think it's a violation of our civil liberties.”
Wyche also expressed concerns that the city’s Flock cameras may be used in the future to track women seeking abortions in states where the procedure is legal, like Ohio.
“The Senate approved a new CDC director who indicated that, for her, abortion surveillance is going to be a thing,” Wyche said. “So that should concern all of us around how technology will be utilized to really harm people who are trying to get basic health care, which is absurd.”
When asked for comment, Columbus police told WOSU to reach out to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office for a statement on the search request.
