CLEVELAND — Cleveland’s Flock Safety cameras have not been turned off, even though the contract expired on Monday.
Police confirmed to News 5 Investigators that they’re still using the controversial technology.
On June 17, the Cleveland City Council Safety Committee voted 3-1 against renewing the Flock Safety contract for the city’s license plate readers.
Committee members wanted hard numbers about Flock’s impact on crime, not just examples of success stories.
The Flock contract between Cleveland and the software company ended on Monday. But if you thought the cameras went dark, they didn’t.
"Correct, they’re still operational at minimum until July 15 when the city council is set to meet again to discuss how they want to proceed,” said Cleveland Police Sgt. Freddy Diaz.
Last Friday, Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin sent a memo to Safety Committee Chair Mike Polensek to schedule a second hearing for a “more thorough review and discussion.”
"It’s ridiculous and incredibly disappointing,” said "Flock No" community activist Bryn Adams.
Adams said instead of moving forward with the Flock technology, the city should invest in the root causes of crime.
"I think if the police department comes back with some cherry-picked anecdotal evidence about specific cases they’ve closed, that will still not be compelling to me because it’s still not making the city safer,” Adams said.
Jonathan Witmer-Rich is a law professor at Cleveland State University.
"I think it’s always a challenge because if law enforcement is telling you this is a valuable tool and it’s providing value to us, then you’re reluctant to let it go,” Witmer-Rich said.
Witmer-Rich said figuring out what reduces crime is very complicated.
"To say that this tech hasn’t been proven to do that yet, well, it’s hard to prove exactly what is reducing crime, and I think council needs to look seriously at what the data shows, how this is being used, but I wouldn’t rule it out of hand as having no benefit,” Witmer-Rich said.
Last week, Cleveland police pointed to the technology they use, including the Flock license plate readers, for an arrest on Clark Avenue on the city’s West Side of a man accused of shooting two people with a blow dart.
The man is charged with felonious assault.
"I think it's a PR spin. We know in other parts of the country, Flock has invested in crisis management,” said Adams.
In their news release, police said one of the victims knew the suspect.
Police said the cameras made a difference in catching the man one day later, as one of several tech tools.
"Yeah, we could have definitely gone old school, and old school means it could have taken us weeks, so we could have had a suspect out there for weeks,” Sgt. Diaz said.
In a letter to city council members on Friday, Police Chief Annie Todd called this a political debate rather than a conversation about public safety. She wants a temporary contract so they can figure out the best move forward.
Read the letter here.
As of today, a date has not been set for the second hearing about Cleveland’s Flock Safety cameras.
Polensek said they’re looking at several dates to ensure a quorum.
