Cities in Ohio and across the country are debating how they use license plate reader cameras made by Flock Safety – but municipalities aren’t the only powerful institutions using the devices.
Several Ohio universities also partner with the controversial company. That includes two of the state’s largest and most influential colleges: Ohio State University in Columbus and Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University.
Flock cameras snap photos of passing vehicles before storing them in the company’s online database. The company says the cameras’ owners control who can access those images. They may choose to share them with participating law enforcement agencies through Flock’s data-sharing network.
University officials say having the cameras on campus helps keep students safe.
But critics are concerned about how – and why – the data is being captured and stored. They say the technology puts immigrant communities at risk if information captured by the cameras gets turned over to federal immigration agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE).
Case Western Reserve student Gregg Chase compared his school’s use of the technology to a “panopticon,” or a prison setup where a guard can see all prisoners at once.
It is “something that a lot of students, myself included, find deeply disturbing,” he said.
Ohio State enters fifth year with license plate reader cameras
Ohio State officials confirmed the use of license plate reader cameras – without citing Flock by name.
The state’s flagship university began using these cameras in 2021 as part of its “crime reduction efforts both on and off campus,” according to a spokesperson. Those efforts also included more police patrols and upgraded lights.
“The safety of our campus community is our number one priority,” officials said. Nearly 59,000 students enrolled at the Columbus campus this spring.
University officials declined to answer Signal Statewide’s specific questions about its relationship with Flock Safety, including how many of the company’s devices are currently on university grounds. WOSU reported the university had more than 60 Flock devices amid its more than 5,000 security cameras in 2023.
Officials said Ohio State shares information with Columbus law enforcement “related to crimes.” The city can also access the university’s cameras.
Columbus City Council is hosting a hearing on the city’s cameras next month. It comes after a recent audit found “thousands of possibly immigration enforcement-related searches” made by departments outside the city’s police department, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Flock Safety says it does not share customer data with ICE. The company says local customers retain control over images captured by their devices. Those individual groups may choose to share them with other agencies, including federal authorities.
Case Western Reserve’s Flock contract runs through 2027
Case Western Reserve University officials said its police department uses Flock cameras “for crime prevention and forensic investigation.”
A contract with the company runs through next year and is in place “for license plate reader technology only,” they wrote in a statement to Signal Statewide.
“Flock data is only shared with pre-determined, specific local police agencies when active case numbers are provided, and in accordance with all other aspects of our policy,” officials said. “The university does not share data with federal agencies.”
Case Western Reserve did not answer questions asking to name those law enforcement groups or to share how many cameras it operates on its private campus in Cleveland’s University Circle neighborhood. The university enrolled about 12,400 students last fall.
Cleveland City Council appears ready to extend its controversial Flock contract this week. Signal Cleveland reports the deal could have some changes, including publicly sharing information about how police use the technology.
Some Case Western Reserve students want to see the university drop Flock
Chase, the Case Western Reserve student, first clocked the university’s Flock cameras after arriving on campus for their freshman year last fall. They said their interest – and concerns – grew when ICE agents fatally shot two people in Minnesota in January.
Chase said they worry about things such as privacy issues, including how photos captured by the cameras are used, and holes in the company’s technology. But they said their biggest concern is for the safety of the university’s international students.
The most recent federal data finds about 11% of Case Western Reserve’s undergraduates are non-U.S. residents.
“I want those amazingly diverse friends of mine to be able to feel safe on their college campus, and I know that right now they don’t,” he said.
Chase is a member of Case Western Reserve’s chapter of the Ohio Student Association, a progressive statewide advocacy group. They’re partnering with a cybersecurity-focused student organization to try to convince the university to terminate its relationship with Flock, including by not renewing any existing contracts or entering into any new agreements.
Chase said the groups are not asking the university administration to totally get rid of security cameras. They said the devices “have a meaningful place in creating campus safety.” Instead, they think the university should develop and manage its own network of cameras.
“We want that system to be managed locally, to be secure, and to be actually accountable to students, faculty, staff and the broader community around the campus,” said Chase.
Other colleges in Ohio, nationwide work with Flock
Public outcry caused at least one other Ohio university to stop working with Flock. Kent State didn’t move forward with the company after a pilot program ended this spring.
“The administration heard from members of the Kent Campus community that, for some, the cameras made them feel less secure rather than more secure,” university officials wrote in May. “That feedback was meaningful and informed the university’s decision to end the program.”
At least 75 colleges nationwide use Flock cameras, according to a March 2026 report by the college sports newsletter FOIAball.
The University of Akron appears on that list, though university officials told Signal Statewide they have none of the cameras on campus. Officials said they do have an account with Flock Safety, which gives them the ability to access the cameras run by the City of Akron.
Across the state, Ohio University and Cleveland State University each said the campuses have no Flock cameras or relationship with the company. The University of Cincinnati did not respond to a request for information.
