Sept. 16 Citizens' Police Oversight Board Sept. 16 meeting
Covered by Documenter Jackie Jantzie (see the notes here)
Last week, Akron’s independent police auditor began a full audit of the Akron Police Department’s use of nearly 150 Flock Safety cameras across the city.
Flock cameras are mounted on poles throughout Akron and log the license plates of everyone who drives by into a database searchable for the next 30 days by law enforcement in Akron and nationwide.
APD’s usage and contract with Flock Safety started in 2022. The city’s contract expires next September.
Anthony Finnell sent a 42-page letter to Akron Police Chief Brian Harding on Sept. 17, explaining his rationale for the Office of Independent Police Auditor to conduct a review of the surveillance system. Finnell’s letter also requested records pertaining to the “deployment, administration, use, access, oversight, information sharing, retention, and governance of the Flock Safety automated license plate reader (“ALPR”) system.”
Finnell requested high-priority documents be shared with his office by Nov. 6. All other documents could arrive by Dec. 15. He also asked Harding to reply promptly if the police department is unable to respond by those dates.
Citizen review board supports audit effort
Akron’s Citizens’ Police Oversight Board gave Finnell the go-ahead for the audit during its Sept. 16 board meeting. While there was discussion and concern about the investigation, there was unanimous support from the eight board members present.
“On the national level, we’ve had lots and lots of interest in Flock and automated license plate readers and surveillance technology,” Finnell told the board. “We’ve had citizens come to our meetings and ask us to audit and complain about the systems that the City of Akron is using.”
Finnell said that, though he’s heard from multiple residents about this, the independent audit would not focus on specific cases but, rather, on the Flock camera program as a whole.
The request for data, he said, “is very in-depth, looking at multiple components to make sure the system is functioning not only the way it’s supposed to but that the safeguards are in place, that there aren’t any abuses, that APD is operating the way it should.”
If the audit reveals no safeguards, Finnell said his office will offer recommendations.
At the CPOB meeting, Finnell recounted a complaint earlier this year from an Akron resident who felt they were unfairly being tracked by APD. Finnell said that his office looked into the situation and that things were “rectified.” In this particular case, an APD officer entered an incorrect reason for using the license plate tracking into the system.
“You can’t just go into the system and plug in a [license] plate; you have to have an investigative need,” Finnell said. “The reason put in was not a legitimate reason for APD, so that’s been addressed.”
CPOB board member: No ‘real data on how it’s been used or misused’
Board Member Tamara Brooks expressed concern that an audit might disrupt ongoing APD investigations. Brooks asked Finnell to see both sides, the police and community, and to produce an unbiased audit.
“I would be concerned of digging so far that we destroy, interfere, obstruct an investigation that could get a family justice, save a life,” she said.
Finnell said at the meeting he didn’t plan to examine specific cases but instead will look at process and procedure. He added that there are strict confidentiality agreements in his office and an audit would adhere to those rules.
“For me, it’s the broader ‘what is this’,” he said, talking about the need to consider all angles of privacy concerns.
Board Member Duane Crabbs said the time is now for an audit. He added that Finnell’s office is the appropriate agency to conduct it.
“We’ve got the ideologies on both sides, but we do not have any real data on how it’s been used or misused,” he said, referring to people who are for and against using Flock cameras.
The program has not been audited since its inception, Finnell said.
Thousands of agencies operate Flock cameras across the U.S.
Across the country, officers in more than 6,000 agencies operate roughly 120,000 Flock cameras to discover where drivers have been.
Residents, privacy rights groups and others have raised concerns nationally about the law enforcement tool. Instances of abuse by law enforcement have been reported. Equipment vandalism and suspension of Flock cameras by some government agencies has also been on the rise.
A spokesperson for the Akron Police Department told Signal Akron the feature is turned off in Akron for anti-abortion law enforcement, as it is for immigration enforcement.
