Ohio State University plans to use license plate reader cameras on its Columbus campus for the next two years, according to the university’s latest contract extension with Flock Safety, the maker of the AI-powered devices.
Public records requested by Signal Statewide show the university’s latest contract officially began July 1 and will cost $378,000 in total.
The latest extension is the university’s third agreement with Flock Safety – and its most expensive. Records show the university will pay $31,500 more each year, or a 20% annual increase from the previous deal.
Ohio State officials said the uptick “appears” to reflect higher per-camera charges from the company, not an increase to its current network of 63 cameras on and around campus.
The deal comes as leaders in Columbus, Cleveland and other cities debate using the cameras. Officials face criticism from privacy advocates, whose concerns include that the data collected can be used in federal deportation efforts.
Ohio State says license plate cameras make campus safer
Ohio State’s first contract with Flock Safety ran from June 2022 through June 2024.
But the cameras initially arrived on campus as part of a free pilot program.
Flock Safety installed the 63 devices on or around Ohio State’s campus to “demonstrate the effectiveness of the service product at no cost to the university,” according to a 2024 memo written by Satoru Persons, then the university’s director of communications and security technology in the public safety department.
Persons framed the pilot as a success in the memo, where he also asked senior leaders to renew the university’s deal with Flock Safety for the first time.
“The pilot period resulted in several arrests and recovered property directly associated with notifications from Flock on stolen plates, stolen vehicles, active warrants, and missing persons,” he wrote.
The memo didn’t cite specific examples to support that claim. University officials declined to provide any additional context when asked by Signal Statewide.
“The system has been used to solve crimes and assist law enforcement,” an Ohio State spokesperson wrote in a July 16 email. “We do not have a formal data tracking of that.”
Records show Ohio State’s three agreements with Flock Safety total more than $1 million through 2028.
Other colleges in Ohio, nationwide also partner with Flock Safety
Ohio State isn’t the only university using Flock Safety cameras. As Signal Statewide reported last week, Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University and other colleges nationwide also work with the company.
Ohio State’s contract is comparable to the deal the University of Arizona has with the company.
Arizona signed a five-year deal with Flock Safety in February 2025, according to reporting from the Tucson Spotlight.
The details mirror Ohio State’s first two contracts with Flock Safety, including with the number of cameras – Arizona’s 62 to Ohio State’s 63 – and six-figure annual payments.
More than 61,000 students attended the Columbus campus last fall, compared to about 40,000 in Tucson. Both are the flagship institutions in their states.
How do Flock Safety’s cameras work?
Flock Safety cameras snap photos of passing vehicles, including license plates and details such as the make and model of a car, before storing them in its online database.
The company says the entities overseeing the cameras control who can access those images. They may choose to share them with participating law enforcement agencies through Flock Safety’s data-sharing network.
Campus leaders say the cameras are one of many ways they work to keep students safe.
“The safety of our campus community is our number one priority,” Ohio State officials told Signal Statewide.
But critics are concerned about how – and why – the data is being captured and stored. They say the technology puts immigrant communities at risk if information captured by the cameras gets turned over to federal immigration agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE).
The devices have been a point of contention across the country and in Ohio.
Cleveland City Council recently passed a six-month extension of its own contract after months of intense debates, while Columbus leaders plan to discuss their city’s use of the cameras at a public hearing next month.
