Gahanna's participation in the regional Flock license plate reader network faces new uncertainty after a nearly six-hour Columbus City Council hearing on Aug. 10 produced sharp divisions over the surveillance cameras but no vote.

Columbus council member Emmanuel Remy, who chairs the public safety and criminal justice committee, presided over the hearing at City Hall. Protesters packed the balcony and council chambers, while police officials defended the cameras as critical crime-fighting tools.

Columbus police data presented at the hearing showed 49 percent of homicide arrests in the first half of 2026 involved Flock technology. Deputy Chief Justin Coleman read victim impact statements, including from Tim Tepe, father of Spencer Tepe, whose murder was solved with Flock's help.

What changed for the regional network

Columbus pulled out of Flock's nationwide sharing network in June and the statewide network in July after an audit found more than 15,577 possibly immigration enforcement-related searches of city data, WOSU reported. The city now shares data one-to-one with individual municipalities after vetting each agency.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant told NBC4 on Aug. 5 that the department is vetting every agency and county it shares data with to ensure none of its partners are using the information in ways that conflict with city policies. Bryant reiterated that position at the Aug. 10 hearing, telling council members the cameras also help locate missing children and people with dementia.

Gahanna's place in the network

Gahanna Police have credited their Flock cameras with solving more than 80 crimes or generating leads since July 2025, as we reported Aug. 5. According to NBC4, Gahanna Police said agencies in the Flock network have access to the database but that Gahanna does not directly share information with other law enforcement agencies, a different arrangement than Columbus's bilateral model.

Neither Gahanna City Council nor New Albany City Council has scheduled a public hearing on Flock cameras as of Aug. 11.

Activists name New Albany in testimony

Kat Finneran of 614 ICE Watch testified at the hearing that New Albany Police Department is among agencies still sharing data with Columbus. Finneran claimed a New Albany officer has part of his salary paid by Homeland Security Investigations and has participated in immigration enforcement. That claim has not been independently verified by police records or official sources.

"Bad apples have access to our Flock cameras," Finneran told the council, according to The Columbus Dispatch. "The cameras must come down."

What's next

Columbus's Flock contract expires in December 2026. At least two council members, Lourdes Barroso de Padilla and Melissa Green, signaled they favor ending the program. Green said at the close of the hearing that continuing with Flock is "irresponsible."

Franklin County has approximately 580 Flock cameras, placing it in the top 20 percent of cameras per capita nationally, according to the watchdog group DeFlock. No follow-up hearing date or vote has been announced.