Two Ohio Governor Candidates Back Flock Camera Bans

Two of the three candidates for Ohio governor now back bans on Flock cameras, the AI-powered automated license plate readers that police and businesses use to log vehicles in public and store the data in searchable databases.

Democratic nominee Amy Acton would support bipartisan legislation banning Flock's use across Ohio, her campaign spokeswoman told cleveland.com. Libertarian Don Kissick says he would ban the cameras by executive order at one state agency on day one, then push lawmakers for a statewide public-sector ban.

Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy has voiced similar misgivings — warning of a "Chinese-style surveillance state" — but has offered few specifics, and his campaign did not answer questions for the cleveland.com story.

Where Each Candidate Stands

Acton — a former state health director from suburban Columbus — "would support bipartisan legislation banning the use of Flock across Ohio," according to campaign spokeswoman Virginia Schaus, who did not specify how stringent a ban Acton favors. Acton also backs a recent bipartisan legislative request that the Ohio Department of Transportation stop approving new license plate readers along state highways and review existing permits.

Kissick — a TV station control-room operator from Ottawa — said he would immediately issue an executive order barring the Ohio Department of Public Safety from using Flock cameras, then seek a statutory ban on any public-sector entity in the state deploying them. He would not seek a ban on private cameras, citing constitutional concerns, but wants "strict limits" on government access to private camera data, including a warrant requirement. "I am unwaveringly opposed to Flock cameras as well as all other ALPRs entering the market," Kissick said. "The threat to civil liberties these cameras pose goes against every principle on which our society was founded."

Ramaswamy — the Columbus-area entrepreneur — has said the cameras must never be used to spy on people in private spaces, including homes and cars: "That has to be respected as a hard boundary." He has not said what specific rules he would pursue as governor.