CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — Is Immigration and Customs Enforcement tapping into Flock safety cameras in Cleveland Heights? City Council says no, but took legislative action on Monday as a precaution.
A Resolution spearheaded by Cleveland Heights Councilmember Jessica Cohen is meant to affirm city policies in relation to data collected by Flock cameras.
"We wanted to ensure that the police department will continue to not use any data from Flock cameras for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement. That's already our policy. This reaffirmed that for the public and for ourselves as a city," Cohen said.
The legislation, passed unanimously and by emergency this week, states the following:
- Retaining collected camera data can be no longer than 30 days. Unless it pertains to an active law enforcement matter or prosecution, it will be permanently deleted from the system after a month.
- The Cleveland Heights Police Department shall continue not to utilize Automated License Plate Reader technology for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement.
- No data or information collected via the city's ALPR system shall be shared with any federal, state, or local agency when the person fulfilling such a request knows it was made for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement, unless the requesting agency presents a judicial search warrant or a court order specifically authorizing the release of said data.
Data may be stored longer than the 30 days if it's related to an active investigation, according to Cohen.
"This is really getting into the details, but the difference between administrative search warrant, which we understand the Department of Homeland Security has been trying to use in place of a judicial search warrant, which allows for the due process that our Constitution protects," Cohen said.
Cohen explained that the catalyst for this legislation was due to the strong advocacy of immigration rights in Cleveland Heights.
"The mayor and everyone on council agrees with [Cleveland Heights 4 Immigrant Rights]. We want to protect and support our immigrant population here in Cleveland Heights," Cohen said. "We really wanted to deep dive as an administration and council into how the data from Flock cameras are actually being used to make sure that we're striking that balance between public safety and immigration enforcement protections."
Cleveland Heights City Council Vice President Gail Larson told me she hopes that with the passage of this Resolution, residents see that the council isn't rubber-stamping everything that comes across the discussion table, like the contract with Flock.
"Chief Britton had input on it, so he has buy-in, which has been extremely important to me. This pretty much confirms what he was saying — that the flock cameras are used as a tool to help fight crime," Larson said.
She also wants the council's action on this to build trust within the community.
"We try to ask the best-informed questions when we have a piece of legislation that comes before us. We renewed the contract recently, but to understand that we don't do this as a rubber stamp, and Jessica's legislation confirms that," Larson said.
Larson confirms the Resolution is precautionary. She said she has toured the Cleveland Heights police station to learn about how the Flock system and its access logs work.
She told me she's confident that no Cleveland Heights Flock data has been shared with any Homeland Security agency.
"We've been questioned about our transparency in the past. We've been questioned about if we understand the technology," Larson said. "I would just ask that when people hear rumors or what doesn't coincide with what council just passed in legislation and what our police chief has said, that they reach out to council so that they can verify what is true. I'd also ask that they understand that this is a difficult job that we do on council and that we are doing our very, very best to understand every situation that we can and collect the data and make decisions based on what we can verify."
Council’s Health and Safety Committee did discuss this legislation and recommended its passage.
I asked Cleveland Heights residents for their thoughts on the Resolution this week.
Joanne, a personal trainer from the area, told me she's in support of the effort.
"I don't think anybody should be able to get the material. I am all for keeping the Flock cameras, but I want safeguards on it. I don't want the material to be shared with any other law enforcement agency unless there is a judicial order," she said. "It's not a criminal offense to be here. It's a civil offense, so ICE has no business getting the information from our Flock cameras. I think our city council made the right choice."
She said she trusts not only city council, but Mayor Jim Petras and the police department in this matter.
"I trust that they will continue to learn more about this as technology changes. I don't think this is something that we should just forget about now. It should continually be checked. What we can't do today, we might be able to do tomorrow as far as sharing material, so they have to keep on top of it," Joanne said.
Joanne said she believes the council has done what it can do for now on this topic.
However, Joanne added that she loves Cleveland Heights and what has become of the city. She hopes city council will keep evaluating how to better serve immigrants, like providing immigrants with resources on where to go for legal help.
Meanwhile, Cleveland Heights 4 Immigrant Rights isn't too happy with the Resolution, saying it doesn't have legs to stand on.
"On Monday, Cleveland Heights City Council passed a resolution that affirmed the City's contract with Flock Safety, and doesn't do anything to prevent ample front, side, and backdoor access for federal authorities doing unlawful immigration enforcement," Cleveland Heights 4 Immigrant Rights spokesperson, Akshai Singh, told me in a statement on Sunday.
Singh said that despite "quaint and naive" assurances, "ICE has 24/7 access."
"In fact, Section 2 seems to only clarify how open the door is for Flock's data retention, stating data may be retained over 30 days if it 'pertains to an active law enforcement matter or prosecution of a criminal, quasi-criminal, or administrative nature or is otherwise required to be preserved by law.' (ICE uses 'administrative warrants' as opposed to judicial warrants to illegally detain people). Given that Flock has been used in other states to pursue individuals for the crime of seeking abortion access, like in Texas, this contract remains a danger to Ohioans facing the escalating threat of criminalization on immigration or otherwise," Singh said.
Rod Rush, another longtime Cleveland Heights resident, said the Resolution should've been given more thought.
"I don't think they should have passed that resolution as of yet. I think that the residents in the community should have been more informed on what it entails, especially by being passed as an emergency measure. The residents weren't given that offer to respond," Rush said. "It definitely was rushed. Should have never been passed."
He wants to know how Flock works and who exactly has access to it within Cleveland Heights PD.
"We really don't have a clear idea how it's being used, and that's why there's a lot of questions," Rush said. "I don't want it to get to a point where people's behaviors or people's coming and going throughout Cleveland Heights is being monitored under any type of unethical practices brought on by Cleveland Heights Police Department. I just wanna be clear on that."
He doesn't wanna do away with Flock cameras entirely, but wants the system to be more refined.
"They [Cleveland Heights City Council] need to talk to the residents and to the citizens, and I'm happy to talk with any of them," Rush said.
Joanne told me there wasn't much discussion on this Resolution among residents before it was passed.
"There wasn't a great conversation because they read the resolution and it passed unanimously, and when they're reading resolutions, that's not the time for the public to speak," Joanne said.
Cleveland Heights Councilmember Jim Posch did make note of the benefits of Flock during Monday's council meeting, sending me a copy of his statement.
He said Flock is used in nearly every Cleveland Heights PD investigation and has helped countless people.
"With any technology solution, there are data privacy considerations. While I believe FLOCK is [an] important tool, we need to make sure we are addressing our data privacy needs. Safeguards are important, and that’s the purpose of this legislation," Posch said.
Cohen said there has been public pushback on the Resolution and that she understands the pushback on this legislation, but said it's the first step of many in privacy and data collection.
"We're gonna continue to keep a close eye on this issue generally and on data protection generally as well," Cohen said. "The one thing I will say is that with all the national conversation around cities canceling their Flock contracts, there are a number of cities that have done what we are doing, which is to pass resolutions or to change or amend some of their contracts to be able to use Flock. It's important for residents to know that there are plenty of municipalities across the country that are continuing to use this technology, but using it responsibly and with important safeguards."
