Though Flock cameras have been installed on public streets for years, recent questions and controversies over their use have caught the attention of Ohio lawmakers. Now, two separate bills to regulate Flock cameras are in the works.
“We don’t want a surveillance state," said Rep. Levi Dean (R-Xenia), who's sponsoring a bill to provide some ground rules for the use of Flock cameras.
Dean said in an interview he's working with the Legislative Service Commission on drafting his bill. But he said it would allow police agencies to use the cameras for investigations if they get a warrant. And he said it would ban the use of Flock cameras or other similar cameras assisted by artificial intelligence from being used by governmental entities and police departments, whether at the federal, state or local levels.
Some cities already have Flock cameras in use. Dean said his bill would still allow private entities to use Flock cameras but would limit how data from those cameras would be used. He said there’s been misuse of the cameras by law enforcement and others and that must stop.
“The job of a legislature and a judge is not to make the police’s job as easy as possible even though it’s in the confines of the law and the constitution. That should be a good thing, but our job is to protect the rights of the citizens," Dean said. "I still want them to catch bad guys and criminals. But I don’t want them to violate other people, innocent people’s rights in the process.”
Sen. Al Cutrona (R-Canfield) also has a Flock camera bill. His would allow government entities to install and keep Flock cameras but would focus on new rules about how data from them could be used.
“You have these third-party companies that are storing this information, maybe not even in the state of Ohio, and the question you’ve got to be asking yourself is: ‘What happens to that information? Where does it go? How is it given out?’" Cutrona said in an interview. "That’s also what we need to safeguard. And that information should not, in any way, shape or form, be given or sold for personal gain or benefit, and many companies can do that.”
Under Cutrona’s bill, third-party entities may not solicit the data. And anyone using data from Flock cameras improperly could be charged with a fourth-degree felony.
Flock has recently changed its own rules for its services due to the public outcry against misuse of data from the systems. But the lawmakers don’t think those changes alone are sufficient enough to protect the privacy of Ohioans.
Lawmakers are not expected back until after the November election, and for either bill to pass, it would have to happen before the end of the year. But Cutrona isn’t concerned about that.
“There's always enough time if the legislature wants there to be enough time, right?,” Cutrona said.
