Submitted by Liberty On The Lake
VERMILION – Vermilion City Council will consider an ordinance Monday evening that would prohibit Flock cameras and other Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology within the City of Vermilion.
The proposed ordinance was authored by Drew Werley, Ward 3 City Councilman, and would establish a citywide prohibition on the use of ALPR surveillance technology.
For Werley, the issue is fundamentally about the constitutional rights of Vermilion residents.
When reached for comment, Werley stated, “I see Flock Cameras as an egregious infringement upon the people’s 4th amendment rights, and they have no place in a free society.”
Supporters of the ordinance argue that ALPR technology represents a fundamental change in how government can monitor people going about their ordinary lives. The cameras don’t only identify vehicles suspected of being involved in a crime. They can record vehicles simply for passing in front of a camera, creating a searchable record of where those vehicles were observed.
The scale of that surveillance can be substantial. According to the Huron Police Chief, the city’s Flock cameras conducted approximately 3.6 million plate scans last year. That means millions of observations of vehicles traveling through the community, including vehicles belonging to people who were not suspected of committing any crime.
Questions have also been raised about the accuracy of the technology. A recent investigation by Business Insider found that Flock’s cameras in Roseville, California, misread license plates in 71% of the alerts sent to police during 2023 and 2024.
Los Angeles has faced similar concerns. An audit of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Flock system found that approximately one out of every three stolen-vehicle alerts reviewed was a false hit, resulting in innocent drivers being incorrectly identified by the system.
For opponents of ALPR surveillance, these issues raise two fundamental questions: How much information should government be allowed to collect about innocent people, and how reliable should that information be before it can influence police action?
The proposed Vermilion ordinance would answer those questions by prohibiting the technology altogether rather than attempting to regulate how it is used.
The issue will come before Vermilion City Council on:
Monday, August 17, 2026 – 6:00 PM
Vermilion Municipal Complex
687 Decatur Street, Vermilion, Ohio 44089
Residents will have an opportunity to attend the meeting and make their voices heard regarding the proposed ban.
Liberty On The Lake encourages Vermilion residents to attend Monday’s meeting and participate in the discussion over privacy, constitutional rights, and the future of automated surveillance technology in the city.
About Liberty On The Lake
Liberty On The Lake is a local community advocacy group focused on protecting individual liberty, privacy, and constitutional rights.