Despite some members’ deep concerns that Akron appears to have few guardrails in place against misuse of its extensive Flock Safety camera network, the Citizens’ Police Oversight Board tabled a recommendation to the mayor’s office and Akron City Council to place the controversial technology on hold.
After nearly 90 minutes of discussion Wednesday by the CPOB about Flock cameras — including five statements made during the comment period prior to the meeting — the board voted 5-2 to table new member Jennifer Boswell’s nonbinding motion. It would have urged the mayor’s office to suspend the city’s use of Flock until after Independent Police Auditor Anthony Finnell completes his audit of the system.
Finnell said he expects the audit to be completed by April.
The Wednesday night meeting was the board’s first since:
- The Akron Beacon Journal reported on Sept. 30 about Fields’ Flock searches while he was on administrative leave 22 months ago.
- Signal Akron reported on Oct. 19 that between December 2024 and June 2026, Akron’s Flock records were accessed more than 8,000 times for federal immigration enforcement by outside agencies working with ICE. This occurred despite resolutions passed by City Council to not cooperate locally with ICE.
- Signal Akron also reported Akron’s network was used by a Texas sheriff surveilling a woman it believed violated the state’s strict anti-abortion laws. Millions of the 33.4 million total outside searches during the 18-month period contained no discernable rationale for them, meaning there’s no way the city could check their intent, even if they decided to look.
- Morgan defended the city’s Flock use on Oct. 19, saying the city never directly provided ICE with Flock records. Signal Akron reported the city allowed Flock access to deputized local agencies working alongside and on behalf of ICE to enforce federal immigration law. Morgan said the filters added by the city in May that keep out external abortion and immigration searches are strict new safeguards. Signal Akron’s reporting showed the filters only block searches that proactively declare they are for immigration or abortion law enforcement. Millions of the undeclared searches do not get flagged.
Board discusses uses, abuses of Flock cameras
City officials have shown a “lack of urgency or commitment to reviewing actual use of the system, whether there’s been violations and how it’s taken care of,” Boswell said. She watched Director of Public Safety Craig Morgan’s defense of Akron’s Flock use at Akron City Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting on Oct. 19, she said, and doesn’t feel “confident” or “comfortable at all” that city officials grasp the seriousness of Flock misuse.
Boswell said it was “willful blindness” that the city didn’t discover until an Akron Beacon Journal reporter pointed out that Akron Police Officer Davon Fields used Flock while on administrative leave in the months after he killed Jazmir Tucker in November 2024. She said the city didn’t act on an email warning from a resident about it months prior. She said it appears the only city employees monitoring the system are police IT workers. Abuses are only investigated when outside entities discover them, she said.
Dwayne Crabbs, a member of the CPOB, said that, while Flock is a powerful tool with potential for abuse, he feels city officials are making a “good faith” effort on ensuring protections. Pausing the technology while waiting for Finnell’s audit would be a waste of money because the contract was already paid for, he said. Flock is extremely valuable for law enforcement, Crabbs said, and he wants more instances where Flock has proved useful to be documented.
CPOB Chair Kemp Boyd, who is running for Akron mayor, said he’s not against Flock as a whole. He backed Boswell’s concerns and her desire for the city to consider pressing pause on its Flock camera use until it can be better examined. He wasn’t confident the city had proper parameters in place to check against misuse, he said, and temporarily stopping it during Finnell’s audit could be an opportunity to “restore and repair” trust between police and the community.
Donzella Anuszkiewicz, the CPOB’s co-chair, said of Flock’s data collection, “As long as we have ICE in America, I think it’s a threat,” but she later voted to table Boswell’s motion. She was referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
CPOB members want to learn more before recommending pause
The majority of CPOB members said they wanted the mayor’s office to tell them more about the guardrails they have in place.
Other CPOB members who voted to table the motion weighed in as follows:
- Juanita Elton, a former APD detective, appeared skeptical about the call to pause Flock and didn’t want to recommend it until city officials can tell the board more about its guardrails. She made the motion to table Boswell’s effort.
- Ericka Burney-Hawkins appeared to not know about Fields’ use of Flock, the circumstances of the city discovering it or how Flock data is accessed.
- CPOB members Shawn Peoples and Christopher Weems, who didn’t speak during the meeting, also voted to delay weighing in on Flock.
Boyd and Boswell were the only members who voted for the recommendation to pause the city’s Flock camera use Wednesday.
If the oversight board ultimately takes a stance on the city’s use of Flock cameras, it would be symbolic, since the CPOB has no enforcement authority in this area. The mayor is also under no obligation to acknowledge it.
The board could again take up the issue at either next month’s meeting or at a hypothetical emergency meeting,
The discussion came as Issue 13, a proposed Akron City Charter amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot, would, if passed, add subpoena power, require responses from city officials to police auditor’s reviews and change how board members are selected.
