CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Police in Chillicothe have deployed automated license plate recognition cameras from Flock Safety to aid in crime investigations, but details about their exact placements and operations remain limited, with the department’s transparency page not yet publicly available.
The cameras capture images of passing vehicles, including license plates, make, model and color, to help track stolen cars, missing persons, or vehicles linked to crimes.
Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based company founded in 2017, specializes in surveillance technology for law enforcement and communities. Its Automated Licensed Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras use machine learning to scan and analyze vehicle data in real time, sending alerts to officers if a plate matches a database of wanted vehicles. The devices are motion-activated, solar-powered and can capture 6-12 images per vehicle session, with data typically deleted after 30 days to address privacy concerns, according to Flock. Pricing for the Falcon model, Flock’s primary ALPR camera, runs about $2,500 per unit annually, plus a one-time installation fee ranging from $250 to $650, covering maintenance and cloud storage, the company said.
To promote accountability, Flock Safety provides transparency portals for partnering agencies. These online pages detail how departments use the technology, including privacy policies, data retention rules and sometimes usage statistics or audit logs. Examples include portals for departments in Mansfield and Marion County, Ohio, which outline retroactive searches and evidence collection practices. However, no such page has been publicly disclosed for the Chillicothe Police Department, leaving residents without easy access to specifics on local implementation.
Scioto Valley Guardian has confirmed the presence of at least one Flock camera along East Main Street in Chillicothe, a busy thoroughfare in the city’s east side. The outlet reached out to the City of Chillicothe for more information on the cameras’ placements, costs, usage policies and total number deployed, but as of press time, officials had not responded.
Chillicothe, a city of about 22,000 residents and the first capital of Ohio, joins a growing list of communities adopting Flock technology amid rising concerns over vehicle-related crimes. Critics, including privacy advocates, argue the systems enable mass surveillance, though Flock emphasizes data security and limited retention.
Local police have not released statistics on the cameras’ impact since installation, but similar deployments elsewhere in Ohio, such as in Commercial Point, have expanded from a few units to dozens.