MOUNT VERNON — City officials are pulling back from using automated license plate reader technology in the wake of public opposition.
Council members gave a first reading on Monday to legislation that allows the current contract with Flock Safety to expire on Oct. 25.
It also puts a 12-month moratorium on the city installing ALPR cameras in the city and prohibits anyone else from installing cameras on city property.
The moratorium starts Oct. 25.
Safety-Service Director Tanner Salyers said the city heard the public’s feedback.
“We don’t have the cachet to exhaust your public trust. So if you come and say to us … I don’t trust this system that you’ve put up, and you compare it to a Chinese spy network, we have to listen at that point. Because we cannot just dust that off,” he said.
Salyers said Mount Vernon has two simultaneous responsibilities: tools for public safety and upholding the constitutional rights of citizens.
“We did not take an oath to Flock. We took an oath to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Ohio,” he said.
“That said, we recognize that with the expansion of technology comes the usefulness of public safety tools. If the law has not caught up with that usefulness of that technology, or if cases have not been borne in court … then [local government] is not the arena for those questions to be played out in.”
Salyers said that frequently, federal courts hear those cases, not local ones.
Other factors influenced Mount Vernon’s decision
Salyers said both leading Ohio gubernatorial candidates in the Nov. 3 election announced they are willing to sign, to some degree, an agreement banning ALPR technology.
He anticipates an early bill from the January 2027 General Assembly to preempt in some form ALPR technology statewide.
Salyers said administration, police, and council members agreed that creating local guardrails was senseless because the state or federal government could pass legislation.
“We feel it is in the best interest of the city … to wait and see what new rules come down from the state of Ohio,” he said.
“If ALP technology is outright banned, well then, it’s banned, and we’re not even going to look at it.
“Beyond that, if there are new rules that make it so onerous to operate, we probably won’t explore it at that time.”
If, however, new rules address the issues the community has, Salyers said the city will “explore it, bring it to council, and have a public conversation about it.”
Federal funding is not guaranteed
A Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funded the police department’s ALPR cameras.
It is federal money distributed through the Ohio Department of Safety. Salyers said future funding is not guaranteed.
“The city being stuck with the bill on those cameras is a very realistic possibility given the political conversation now,” he said. “So again, how do you avoid that? You wait to see what’s happening.”
“Are there constitutional concerns? Yes, there are. Is this body, this administration, our police department, the city of Mount Vernon City Council going to deal with those United States constitutional concerns? No, they’re not the bodies of government to do that. And until those are settled, it’s not our ball game.”
Safety-Service Director Tanner Salyers
Miller Township resident Sally Bowen said during public participation that she was happy to learn the contract might not be renewed. However, she questioned whether the cameras will collect data between now and Oct. 25.
She also asked how the city will safeguard data collected since the city initially installed the cameras and whether the police department can access data from private cameras.
Aaron Stepp agreed privacy is important and information must be safeguarded.
