AKRON — More than one in ten of Akron’s controversial Flock Safety license-plate cameras have been damaged, vandalized or stolen in recent months, and three people now face felony charges, the Akron Beacon Journal reported after reviewing Akron police reports dating back to July 10.
In total, 17 of the city’s 145 Flock cameras have been damaged in some way, with eight replaced at a total cost of about $4,000, Stephanie Marsh, the city of Akron’s director of communications, told the Akron Beacon Journal. Officers have found cameras painted or taped over, wires snipped, and entire cameras missing from their black poles and marked as stolen, according to the police reports the Beacon Journal reviewed.
The damage is spread across the city. Many of the damaged or vandalized cameras were in Akron’s Goodyear Heights, Middlebury, Chapel Hill and North Hill neighborhoods, according to police reports cited by the Akron Beacon Journal. At least eight cameras have been cut down and are presumed stolen, the Beacon Journal reported, and in one instance officers found a Flock pole with its solar panel hanging after the brackets holding it in place were pried off. A July 24 police report shows officers investigated several of the automated license plate readers that had gone offline or were reportedly vandalized, the Beacon Journal reported.
Police have arrested three people accused of cutting down Flock cameras or duct-taping a camera, Akron police Lt. Michael Murphy told the Akron Beacon Journal. Each faces felony vandalism charges. No other arrests have been made, the Beacon Journal reported. Murphy told the Beacon Journal that not every incident produces a suspect: some happened out of view of nearby surveillance cameras, and people who are on camera may be hard to identify, including when someone is deliberately hiding their identity. Flock cameras, he noted, do not capture live footage, which makes investigating the attacks harder because police cannot pull up a video feed the way they can with traditional surveillance cameras. “We are investigating these incidents and will continue to investigate damaged cameras,” Murphy told the Akron Beacon Journal.
The vandalism wave arrives while the cameras themselves are under their sharpest scrutiny yet in Akron. The Beacon Journal reported that its own reporting found former police officer Davon Fields used the Flock system to search for himself while on paid administrative leave, and reports of officers misusing the technology have spread nationally. Some cities have paused their Flock programs under that pressure, the Beacon Journal noted. Akron has not stopped its program, but an Akron City Council resolution would urge a pause, and the Citizens’ Police Oversight Board has discussed sending a letter asking the city to pause renewing the Flock contract, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
City safety officials continue to defend the system. Craig Morgan, Akron’s public safety chief, has described the tool as speeding up investigations, helping solve difficult cases and locating missing people, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. The replacement math helps explain why the city has absorbed the damage so far: Flock Safety lists an $800 camera, a $500 standard pole, a $5,000 advanced pole, $350 for other repairs and $350 for a new solar panel on its website, and cities can buy a Flock Camera Protection Plan that covers replacements at no additional cost, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on. Confirmed, from Akron police reports and the city as reported by the Akron Beacon Journal: 17 of 145 cameras damaged, eight replaced for about $4,000, at least eight cut down and presumed stolen, and three people charged with felony vandalism. Still unknown: the names and court dates of the three people charged, whether police believe the incidents are connected, and whether City Council will act on the proposed pause while the oversight board weighs its letter.
The camera fight is playing out across Ohio this fall — Akron’s debate follows weeks of similar arguments elsewhere in the state, and it lands in a week when Akron investigators are also closing major cases, including the SWAT arrest of a teen charged in a Columbus shooting death that drew on regional task-force work, and the conviction of a Cleveland man for a 2025 Akron murder.
What happens next runs on two tracks: the felony vandalism cases move into Summit County court, and the policy fight returns to City Council and the oversight board, where the pause resolution and the proposed contract letter will decide whether Akron keeps all 145 cameras running while the audit debate continues.