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One of 10 Flock license plate readers that are set up throughout Mercer County.
WAPAKONETA - In an effort to calm growing concerns from residents, the Wapakoneta Police Department launched a "Flock Safety Transparency Portal" website this week, which offers up-to-date statistics and insight from the six license plate readers posted around the outskirts of town.
The cameras - automated license plate readers primarily operated under contract with Flock Safety of Atlanta - are described by law enforcement agencies as a speedy way to help locate missing people or catch criminals.
But privacy advocates and citizens in communities large and small are increasingly raising concerns, arguing the technology infringes on citizens' privacy rights, relies too heavily on artificial intelligence and can lead to data getting shared well beyond local boundary lines.
In a statement posted to the department's Facebook page on Monday, Police Chief Calvin Schneider described the new online portal as part of the department's "ongoing commitment to responsible policing, accountability, and public trust."
Schneider told The Daily Standard that the city has six license plate readers located around "the outskirts of town." The cameras do not keep a live feed, and only grab snap shots of license plates as they drive by, though he did state that his department has a seventh camera in town that acts as a live feed and is not a license plate reader.
He estimated the cameras have been up for about one to two years, but was not sure on the exact timeline of their installation.
"I'd compare it to having a Ring doorbell camera at your house at the front door and the back door or the side door," Schneider said. "I have cameras around the six major entrances in the town. We do not have any downtown, we don't have any in residential areas."
The new Wapakoneta Police portal includes information about:
• How the technology assists in locating stolen vehicles, missing persons and vehicles connected to serious criminal investigations.
• Real-world examples of how the system has helped law enforcement protect communities.
• How the technology works and what information it does - and does not - collect.
• Common questions and misconceptions about Flock cameras.
• Who is authorized to use the system, when it may be accessed and the accountability measures in place to ensure every search is conducted for a legitimate law enforcement purpose.
As well, the portal allows residents to see when the system was accessed and the general law enforcement purpose for each search - such as a stolen vehicle, missing person or criminal investigation.
For example, recent searches performed in the last 30 days on the Wapakoneta Flock cameras were for: four searches used in a larceny/theft investigation on Aug. 1; two for a stolen motor vehicle investigation on July 24; and three for a hit and run/car accident investigation on July 23.
"It is extremely helpful and it is one more tool that we can use getting an alert about a vehicle at a location where we're not because we've got six cameras and usually three officers (at a time), so we can't be everywhere all the time," Schneider said. "We've gotten stolen vehicles, we've gotten warrants. … Before we take any enforcement action, we verify everything before we do anything. If I get a stolen plate out of Alabama, but because there's a license plate cover on it and the vehicle is from Alaska, obviously we're not going to stop it. We verify (everything) before we take any action."
Several recent Flock camera "success stories" from the Wapakoneta Police Department are listed on the portal. One of them is an incident on April 8 that led to the location of a stolen vehicle.
"On April 8, 2026, the Wapakoneta Police Department received an alert from a FLOCK camera of a stolen vehicle in our jurisdiction," the portal reads. "Responding officers were able to locate the stolen vehicle and they were able to identify the suspect involved. Upon looking inside the stolen vehicle, officers located property from several break-ins inside the City of Wapakoneta. The suspect in this matter was ultimately charged and is awaiting trial."
Schneider described the snapshots taken by the readers as a color photo of the vehicle with the license plate, along with information on what time the photo was taken and what camera took it.
"We only get a picture of the license plate and the vehicle. We do not get any personal information. We don't get social security numbers, we don't get banking information according to what some people on Facebook believe," he said. "When we use them it's usually for a stolen vehicle or something that happened in town, and we're trying to figure out if they left town and where at."
All of Schneider's officers have access to the cameras, though he stressed there are regular audits done, with penalties possible should the software be misused.
"Everybody knows what they can and cannot do. We do run internal audits and if I see that you did a Flock search, I'm going to go ask you what it was for, and if it's justified, fine. If it's not, you could be disciplined up to termination, and you could be charged (with a crime)," he said. "Everybody knows that, so to some extent you gotta trust them. I trust them with a gun. I can trust them with a computer. Other people have gotten in trouble with it. We all know about it. It's possible it could be abused, but we have safeguards, we've got audits and they know if they do abuse it, there's going to be penalties."
The data obtained from Wapakoneta Flock cameras is shared with law enforcement agencies across the country - including local departments like the Mercer and Auglaize counties' sheriff's offices - though access must be approved before it is granted. Likewise, the Wapakoneta Police Department may ask for access to other Flock cameras across the country.
"If another law enforcement agency wants to have access to our cameras, I will give it to them," Schneider said.
Flock cameras are also utilized by both sheriff's offices in Mercer and Auglaize counties.
The Wapakoneta Police Department's Flock transparency portal can be accessed at transparency.flocksafety.com/wapakoneta-oh-pd.
-The Associated Press contributed to this report.
