Sheriff Jack Hall cancels his Flock camera contract after price goes up 79 percent

Lorain County Sheriff Jack Hall announced Friday that he is ending his office's Flock license plate reader program after the cost of the next two-year contract for the technology went up 79 percent. Hall made the announcement in a video posted to his office's official Facebook page. His office has a two-year contract with Flock worth $58,650. That price would rise to $105,000 over the next two years. That's too much, said Hall, whose $32 million budget is being scrutinized by county commissioners and Hall himself. "If I'm holding the (county) commissioners accountable to their budget, I have to be accountable for mine," he said in a phone interview. The decision affects 15 Flock license plate reader cameras installed in Lorain County townships. "When I took office, I made a commitment that the Lorain County Sheriff's Office would continually evaluate how we spend the taxpayers' money and whether the programs we fund are actually providing sufficient value to the citizens we serve," Hall said in his video announcement. That includes technology: Flock cameras record license plates of passing vehicles and store those numbers, the time and location and store that information for up to 30 days. Participating police agencies can use that to track vehicles for criminal or missing persons investigations. Several Lorain County police departments do so. It's a useful investigative tool, Hall said, but "being useful does not mean that a technology is worth its price." After doing a cost-benefit analysis of the 79 percent increase in the contract, "I cannot justify asking the taxpayer of Lorain County to absorb that kind of increase." That's not a condemnation of the Flock camera technology or a statement that Flock cameras have "no law-enforcement value." "They absolutely do," Hall said. "The issue is whether that value justifies spending $105,000 of Lorain County taxpayers' money every two years for 15 cameras. I do not believe it does." Other responsibilities assigned to Hall's office come first, including road patrol, operating the Lorain County Jail, providing court security at the Lorain County Justice Center, investigating crimes, maintaining vehicles and equipment, training personnel "and providing the many other services Ohio law requires of the Sheriff's Office," he said. The technology is highly controversial, with opponents raising concerns about privacy and the potential for misuse of their personal data. Supporters of the program say the law provides no expectation of privacy in public and that the cameras have helped catch criminals. That includes in Lorain County, where police have used Flock to catch accused killers allegedly fleeing the scene of murders and provided evidence that led to a recent conviction in a series of drive-by shootings in Vermilion. Flock also helped police find a convicted sex offender who exposed himself to women at the Amherst Public Library, and a former Elyria Catholic High School employee accused of rape in Cuyahoga County. Numerous police officers — at least 50 of them around the nation, according to a Washington Post investigation — also have been criminally charged with misusing Flock to stalk wives, girlfriends or former romantic partners. Vandals also targeted and damaged five Sheriff's Office Flock cameras since late June. Elyria and Lorain police also reported damage to Flock cameras in their cities, with Elyria police making an arrest in that case. Hall also mentioned the "national discussion" on and criticisms of automated license plate readers "including questions involving privacy, data retention and access to information." "Those are important issues and they deserve continued examination of safeguards and guardrails placed on law enforcement, but our decision does not require us to resolve the national debate," he said. "This is a financial decision and the numbers speak for themselves. Technology should make law enforcement more effective. It should never become an expense that goverment continues paying simply because we've always paid it." Contact Dave O'Brien at 440-329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.