TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo’s new police chief took over Nov. 1 as City Council weighed new limits on the department’s Flock license plate reader cameras, according to reporting by the Toledo Free Press and 13 Action News.
Incoming Chief Kevin Braun, a Toledo native who joined the department in 2000, succeeded Chief Michael Troendle, who retired Nov. 1, 13 Action News reported, as summarized by The Fostoria Free Press. Braun has defended keeping the Flock cameras while council weighs ending or restricting the city’s agreements. The department will start 2027 with just under 600 officers, and Braun said he would like to reach 650, though budget cuts have shrunk recent academy classes, according to that reporting.
At council’s agenda review this week, Councilman Adam Martinez of District 2 proposed legislation, TMP-13004, that would codify restrictions on Toledo Police Department technology, the Toledo Free Press reported. The proposal has three main parts: restricting data regarding reproductive health care, gender-affirming care and immigration status, and not sharing such data with other law enforcement agencies; requiring the department to develop an internal policy to prevent the use of emerging technologies to stalk, harass, racially profile or otherwise retaliate against citizens, with termination as the consequence for violations; and requiring monthly reviews of Flock data sharing, with manual removal of agencies affiliated with federal 287(g) immigration agreements.
Martinez noted that about 11 percent of the department’s shared Flock users have a 287(g) agreement, the Free Press reported. He said he was open to co-sponsors and would like a vote on Nov. 4, but was fine with the item going to committee.
Council President Vanice Williams of District 4 agreed safeguards need to be in place, the Free Press reported, and much of the discussion turned on a pending audit by City Auditor John Rivalsky. Williams said Rivalsky had run into problems getting access to Flock data because he needed law enforcement credentials, and that he was still compiling the audit. At-large Councilman Mac Driscoll said the proposal was a step in the right direction to rein in some uses of the system, according to the Free Press.
What happens next: council could take up the restrictions as early as Nov. 4, depending on the audit’s progress and whether the item goes to committee first. The outcome will set the rules Braun’s department works under as he begins his tenure — and will decide how much of Toledo’s plate-reader data can be shared, and with whom.
Photo: MrJacon000, CC BY-SA