Ohio city workers are covering automated license plate readers with trash bags as officials sound the alarm on ‘egregious violations’ of privacy

Across Dayton, Ohio, city workers are pulling black trash bags over dozens of automatic license plate readers previously installed by the local government, rendering the devices useless. The move comes after city officials suspended the use of these Flock Safety cameras over concerns the system’s data was being used for immigration enforcement. Last month, the Dayton Police Department announced the city would no longer use Flock’s data after it found more than 7,000 cases of searches relating to immigration enforcement made by outside entities. Cities officials called the cases “egregious violations of policy” that prohibited data from the devices from being used for immigration enforcement or shared with agencies “whose primary purpose is to enforce immigration laws.” Dayton appropriated an extra $30,000 for an audit of Flock camera data logs. Joe Parlette, Dayton’s deputy city manager, said at a city commission meeting last month the Dayton Policy Department would work with the city to cover the cameras until they could be removed. The Dayton Daily News first reported on workers putting trash bags over the devices. Representatives for Dayton did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment, but confirmed to the Dayton Daily News that all 72 of the city’s fixed-site ALPR cameras have been covered, and the cameras have not been active following suspension of the program. The purpose of bagging the cameras despite their inoperability was to assuage community concerns about the devices. Automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), such as Flock, use optical character recognition to identify numbers and letters on a license plate. While the technology was intended to identify vehicles in safety scenarios, such as Amber Alerts or missing plates, it has increasingly been associated with a number of alleged privacy violations, part of a growing nationwide concern about AI technology being used for widespread surveillance. Evanston, Ill., officials confirmed in September 2025