Verified Flock
Yep. Columbus is flocked.
Yes. Public records in our database document Flock Safety automated license plate readers in Columbus, Ohio recorded for Columbus Division of Police, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Franklin County Sheriff's Office, Clinton Township Police Department, Columbus Regional Airport Authority Police Department and Ohio State University Police Division. Separately, 407 individual ALPR camera locations mapped by OpenStreetMap contributors fall inside the municipal boundary, 380 of them source-tagged Flock Safety.
Agency
Columbus Division of Police
Agency type
Police
Jurisdiction
Municipal
County
Franklin County
State
Ohio (OH)
Vendor
Axon
The Columbus Division of Police received a state grant for automated license plate reader technology in 2024. The agency signed a 5-year contract in 2022 with Axon that includes more than 2,000 body worn cameras and 460 in-car camera systems with automated license plate recognition in 2022.
Sources · record AOS002319
Agency
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Agency type
Police
Jurisdiction
Statewide
County
Franklin County
State
Ohio (OH)
Vendor
No verified record currently in our database
The Ohio State Highway Patrol had 18 mobile automated license plate reader units, 19 ALPR fixed units as of November 2017.
Sources · record AOS007693
Agency
Franklin County Sheriff's Office
Agency type
Sheriff
Jurisdiction
County
County
Franklin County
State
Ohio (OH)
Vendor
No verified record currently in our database
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office obtained 25 automated license plate readers in 2012.
Sources · record AOS007694
Agency
Clinton Township Police Department
Agency type
Police
Jurisdiction
Municipal
County
Franklin County
State
Ohio (OH)
Vendor
Flock Safety
The Clinton Township Police Department operates seven Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Verified deployment detail
No primary sources on file yet
Cameras / readers
Not publicly verified
Contract price
Not publicly verified
Contract start
Not publicly verified
Contract end
Not publicly verified
Data retention
Not publicly verified
Data sharing documented
Not publicly verified
Date approved
Not publicly verified
ALPR policy
Not publicly verified
Contract / public record
Not publicly verified
Flock transparency portal
Not publicly verified
Every value above is transcribed from the linked document. Nothing is estimated or inferred, and claims circulating on social media are never published here. “Not publicly verified” means we have not found a reliable primary or reported source — never that the thing does not exist.
Sources · record AOS016903
Agency
Columbus Regional Airport Authority Police Department
Agency type
Police
Jurisdiction
Municipal
County
Franklin County
State
Ohio (OH)
Vendor
Flock Safety
The Columbus Regional Airport Authority Police Department has eight Flock Safety license plate reader cameras.
Verified deployment detail
No primary sources on file yet
Cameras / readers
Not publicly verified
Contract price
Not publicly verified
Contract start
Not publicly verified
Contract end
Not publicly verified
Data retention
Not publicly verified
Data sharing documented
Not publicly verified
Date approved
Not publicly verified
ALPR policy
Not publicly verified
Contract / public record
Not publicly verified
Flock transparency portal
Not publicly verified
Every value above is transcribed from the linked document. Nothing is estimated or inferred, and claims circulating on social media are never published here. “Not publicly verified” means we have not found a reliable primary or reported source — never that the thing does not exist.
Sources · record AOS018316
Agency
Ohio State University Police Division
Agency type
Police
Jurisdiction
University
County
Franklin County
State
Ohio (OH)
Vendor
Flock Safety
The Ohio State University Police Division has 63 Flock Safety license plate reader cameras costing $652,050.
Verified deployment detail
No primary sources on file yet
Cameras / readers
Not publicly verified
Contract price
Not publicly verified
Contract start
Not publicly verified
Contract end
Not publicly verified
Data retention
Not publicly verified
Data sharing documented
Not publicly verified
Date approved
Not publicly verified
ALPR policy
Not publicly verified
Contract / public record
Not publicly verified
Flock transparency portal
Not publicly verified
Every value above is transcribed from the linked document. Nothing is estimated or inferred, and claims circulating on social media are never published here. “Not publicly verified” means we have not found a reliable primary or reported source — never that the thing does not exist.
Sources · record AOS018318
These entries document that an agency has been reported to use ALPR technology. They do not establish camera counts, exact locations, cost, retention periods or sharing policies unless the linked source says so.
Contracts, council minutes and records responses are the fastest way to fill in the blanks. Send us what you've found.
Everything on this page traces back to the records below. Where a record carries no linked document, we say so instead of filling the gap.
Deployment records come from the EFF Atlas of Surveillance ↗. Database last updated 2026-08-07.
407 mapped camera points inside the Columbus boundary, from OpenStreetMap contributors via the DeFlock ↗ dataset (ODbL). Each point links to its own OpenStreetMap record in the camera list on this page.
Camera points are matched to this municipality by point-in-polygon containment against US Census Bureau cartographic boundaries (2023) — the coordinate falls inside the municipal boundary. Containment is a statement about location only, never about ownership, operation, purchase or deployment.
Other Ohio communities with a record in our database — nearest by county first. Absence from this list is not evidence of absence.
WOSU reports that two central Ohio school districts, Worthington City Schools and Olentangy Local Schools, cancelled their Flock Safety contracts.
WOSU Public MediaSep 1, 2026News reportingFlock Safety
The Upper Arlington Police Division published a Flock transparency portal listing its ALPR policies, usage statistics and privacy safeguards, per the city's own announcement.
City of Upper ArlingtonJul 30, 2026Official / governmentFlock Safety
The Dispatch reported that federal immigration authorities had a path to Columbus police Flock data until sharing settings were changed earlier in the year.
The Columbus DispatchJul 17, 2026News reportingFlock Safety
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther paused Flock data sharing after an audit identified immigration-related searches, according to the Dispatch.
The Columbus DispatchJul 10, 2026News reportingFlock Safety
Camera counts, contract prices, retention and sharing policies are shown only where we found a primary source. Where they're missing, the information is not publicly verified — see the Flock Files for the documents we do have.
Data attribution
Portions of the surveillance deployment data on this site come from the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Atlas of Surveillance. atlasofsurveillance.org ↗ Are You Flocked? is independent and is not affiliated with the EFF or Flock Safety. Database last updated 2026-08-07.
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