The Athens Police Department has told Flock Safety it will let its contract for automated license plate reader cameras lapse instead of renewing, Chief Nick Magruder said Wednesday.
The department operates six Flock cameras. Its first agreement, a one-year deal covering four cameras, cost $13,100. A second, two-year contract signed in 2025 added two cameras for $12,300 and runs through February 2027. Magruder said the department will keep using the system until then, when Flock is to collect its equipment, and he said Athens police do not plan to adopt ALPR technology again.
Mayor Steve Patterson read the chief's recommendation against renewal at the Oct. 5 City Council meeting and said the agreement would be left out of budget planning later in October and into November.
The choice does not end ALPR use countywide. The Athens County Sheriff's Office holds a Flock contract through June 2028 and operates 10 cameras, part of 16 across Athens County.
According to Magruder's written statement, the city weighed the system's investigative usefulness and its policies on information sharing and access against local public concern and national debate, and concluded the law enforcement value was limited relative to potential detriment.
Privacy disputes over Flock have surfaced nationally. Columbus police and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office have paused use, with Columbus citing allegations of software misuse. State legislators have introduced ALPR regulation bills, and two congressional representatives, one from Ohio, are pressing the federal government over a May FBI proposal to buy such systems. Strong Towns Athens and the ACLU of Ohio hosted a summer forum on the topic that Magruder attended.