Timeline

The CPC passes a resolution to forbid police ALPR use on January 1, 2027 if a new ALPR policy isn't approved before then. The CPC will begin seeking public input on ALPRs within 30 days. The commission also resolves to review any new or renewed contracts for this technology.

Campaigns from Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, Lakewood, and Cleveland hold a countywide conference, turn people out to do public comment, and hold a honk-and-wave rally.

Operating under the misconception that only Flock the company is unpopular, as opposed to reality that all mass surveillance vendors violate our rights and the public also opposes them, the city begins looking for potential other ALPR vendors. Unsurprisingly at this point, the requirements in the request do not even include an audit log, much less other functionality that a department that understood or cared about the public's concerns might seek.

The renewal legislation is reviewed by the Finance Committee, where amendments are added in an attempt to quell a few of the council members' concerns in a "compromise" that is heavily encouraged by council leadership but that doesn’t actually address core issues with the technology. The Finance Committee passes the renewal in a mixed voice vote.

At the full Cleveland City Council meeting, 6 council members take action to speak up and vote no on the legislation. In a rare mixed vote from council, the Flock contract renewal passes 9 - 6.

Flock's Chief Communications Officer Joshua Thomas attempts to convince the audience that mass surveillance is inevitable and unstoppable while saying that Flock is not attempting to promote it and it's everyone's choice to consent to it. Dr. Jen Golbeck summarily destroys his arguments.

Because the outcome of the first Safety Committee vote was not what proponents of the technology wanted, the Cleveland Police Department is given another chance to convince the Safety Committee to approve the Flock renewal.

While council members state it’s clear that ALPRs don't prevent or deter crime, the Cleveland police make an attempt to provide statistics showing that ALPRs improve case closure rates. These statistics do not include solve rates for two major crimes one might justify the invasive tool with: homicide, which was an initial objective of the grant for Flock to begin with, and grand theft auto, with a comment that Kia thefts may have "distorted the data". Both suggest that the department either didn't actually track whether Flock helped solved homicides and kept poor records on car thefts or was unhappy with the outcome the data showed.

For the cherry-picked crime types (robberies, assaults, and burglaries), the case closure rate was 3.2% higher in 2024 and 2025 than it was it 2021 and 2022. However, the comparison didn't control for any other factors that may have changed between those time periods, making it extremely weak evidence. Still, some Safety Committee members seem impressed that the police department is providing any quantitative analysis whatsoever, apparently because they rarely do.

Amendments are added to the renewal legislation in an attempt to quell a few of council members' concerns, the length of the contract is set to 6 months, and in a compromise that’s heavily encouraged by council leadership but that doesn’t actually address core issues with the technology, the committee approves a 6 month renewal in a 5 -2 vote.

Flock graciously allows the Cleveland police to continue operating its ALPRs for free after the contract expires on June 29, justifying questions about why they would continue offering service without a contract and whether they receive other benefits from collecting our data.

After hearing from many residents about the dangers of ALPRs and a low-effort presentation from the Cleveland Police Department that assumed the Safety Committee would rubber stamp a contract renewal, the committee votes down the proposal.

While many schools are being consolidated and closed, the district chooses to continue to pay for cameras rather than putting scarce funds toward actual education.

Cleveland residents start receiving unsolicited texts with a link that sends AI-generated emails stating support for Flock directly to city council members. The texts are traced back to a California lobbyist who does not respond to attempts to contact him. Flock neither confirms nor denies any involvement.

Public Safety Director Drummond was going to present to the Safety Committee about renewing the Flock contract and the police's use of the technology, but the presentation was postponed at the last minute.

This punt happens right before city council goes on summer recess, forcing a special session for the Safety Committee to be scheduled in mid-June.

These results contradict Flock's claims that as of late 2025, the system would not allow a user to run a search of Cleveland's data if they entered an immigration-related keyword. Flock insists that the keywords appeared due to a misconfiguration from a pilot of Flock drones being run by Cleveland and that no license plate data was actually searched. It's worth noting that Cleveland's use of Flock drones-as-first-responder had, like so much surveillance technology adopted before it, been kept under wraps until these revelations.

In another attempt to avoid public discussion (or at least discussion by our representatives) of the surveillance apparatus Clevelanders are paying for, the public safety director tries to arrange a way to skip the necessary process again. Polensek declines, insisting the renewal must go through city council.

Bypassing required review by city council, the mayor's office renews the ShotSpotter contract for another year through the Board of Control, citing a section of city code that only applies to software, not services and hardware. Contracts over $50,000 require city council approval. City council is not pleased.

Amid expanding national awareness of the risks of ALPR databases and Flock specifically, city officials take step back from the earlier proposal. A spokesman for the mayor says "It was never a moment where we said 'yes, we’re moving forward with this unequivocally,'" despite the evident intent in emergency legislation to quickly jam it through.

At the final Safety Committee meeting of the year, City Council hears from the authors of the city-funded report on ShotSpotter and grills the Administration on its use of the technology. Public Safety Director Wayne Drummond acknowledges that the city intends to stop using ShotSpotter and replace it with Flock's audio surveillance system. The Flock ordinance is discussed but not voted on; several council members express alarm at the Administration's failure to conduct an RFP process, particularly in light of their colleague Kerry McCormack's recent departure for a job at Flock.

The open letter, which garners 275 signatures in just four days, requests a few basic things from Mayor Bibb, Council President Griffin, and Councilman Polensek, including public input on this powerful and invasive technology as well as testimony from independent experts (as opposed to only testimony from salespeople and lobbyists).

Bibb claims that gunshot detection technology is the reason for an 80% homicide solve rate in Cleveland (as opposed to a national average, which he claimed is 50%, then 64%) and that it has saved countless lives, despite the recent report to the contrary.

The legislation proposes spending $2 million on a barely defined "integrated technology safety solution" from Flock that sets no guidelines or limits on what kind of technology may be implemented, with no concern for the privacy and 4th amendment rights of Clevelanders. Introduced by council members Polensek and Griffin on behalf of Director of Public Safety Wayne Drummond, this ordinance could have embedded mass surveillance even more deeply in Cleveland life with very few avenues to stop it.

In a career move with very interesting timing, Kerry McCormack of Cleveland's Ward 3 resigns from City Council before the end of his term to take a public affairs role at Flock. He claims he will not work with the city for one year in his new role.

Despite being funded by the city, the study casts doubt on the effectiveness and cost-benefit of the ShotSpotter system in Cleveland, finding it hasn't measurably reduced crime and draws high-priority action from other calls.

In a new "consent agenda" format, there is no public discussion or statement on how the board justifies spending these funds on surveillance instead of education.

Starting in 2023, 201 Flock Falcon license plate reader cameras are installed across the parking lots and nearby roadways of 70 schools, tracking the daily movements of students, family, and teachers, and staff.

Without any communication to the public, consent of the governed, or even city council discussion, the mayor's cabinet gives the go-ahead to implement technology that records and stores a historical record of every car passing by license plate cameras, the vast majority of whose drivers are not suspected of any crime. The Board of Control asks for no details about the technology and express no concern for the privacy of its citizens or the issues such a system introduces. The approval allows the city to spend $250,000/year on a contract with Flock for 100 cameras throughout the city. When the cameras are put up, the movements of individual Clevelanders become available to search by people at thousands of organizations across the country.

The city submits an application to the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services' "Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program" for $275,000 to install 100 Flock Falcon ALPRs.