Rep. Rader, Others, Call on ODOT to Stop Permitting License-Plate Surveillance Cameras in State Rights-of Way

COLUMBUS — Representative Tristan Rader (D–Lakewood) today was joined by Reps. Levi Dean (R-Xenia), Darnell Brewer (D-Cleveland), and Justin Pizzulli (R-Scioto County) in a bipartisan effort to urge the Ohio Department of Transportation to stop approving automated license plate readers in state highway rights-of-way and review permits already issued for the surveillance devices.

Rep. Rader made the request in a letter to ODOT Director Pamela Boratyn following the Florida Department of Transportation’s decision to revoke existing approvals and discontinue future placement of automated license plate readers in state-controlled rights-of-way.

“Ohio’s public rights-of-way should not become free real estate for an unaccountable, privately operated surveillance network,” said Rep. Rader. “These cameras record the movements of millions of people who are not suspected of committing any crime. The government should not be able to track everyone, everywhere, all the time just in case someone might someday become the subject of an investigation.”

Automated license plate readers photograph passing vehicles and create searchable records containing license plate numbers, vehicle descriptions, locations, and timestamps. Information collected locally may be accessible to law-enforcement agencies across a much larger surveillance network.

Concerns about the technology have grown following reports of unauthorized or out-of-policy searches, including thousands of immigration-related searches conducted by outside agencies using data collected by Dayton’s cameras. Dayton subsequently suspended its Flock camera system.

In the letter, ODOT is asked to:

• Stop approving new automated license plate readers in state highway rights-of-way;
• Review existing installations and revoke permits wherever legally authorized; and
• Publicly disclose how many cameras have been permitted, who operates them, and what conditions govern their placement.

“The question is not whether one of these cameras might occasionally help solve a crime,” Rep. Rader added. “The question is whether that benefit justifies building a system capable of tracking millions of innocent Ohioans without a warrant, individualized suspicion, or meaningful public oversight. It does not.”

Ohio currently lacks comprehensive statewide standards governing how automated license plate data may be searched, retained, shared, or used. Rep. Rader said the state should not facilitate the continued expansion of this infrastructure before meaningful civil-liberties protections are enacted.

“Our roads belong to the public,” Rep. Rader concluded. “They should not be used to quietly build a statewide tracking network around the public.”

The letter is attached.