Pause
Suspend use of township-funded ALPR cameras while records and policies are disclosed.
Pause. Disclose. Remove.
Liberty Township residents deserve a vote before mass vehicle surveillance continues.
Butler Privacy Project is a resident-led transparency and accountability effort focused on automated license plate readers and other local surveillance systems in Liberty Township and Butler County.
We support targeted investigations. We oppose suspicionless mass tracking of ordinary residents' vehicle movements without meaningful public consent, binding safeguards, and independent oversight.
Core distinction
Seeing one license plate in public is not the same thing as building a searchable database of vehicle movements over time.
Current phase: records requests, resident petition, trustee accountability.
Campaign ask: suspend use, disable external sharing, release records, and vote to terminate or not renew the program.
What is the issue?
Liberty Township has funded automated license plate reader cameras that record vehicles traveling through the community. These systems do not only identify suspects. They collect vehicle-location data from ordinary residents, workers, visitors, families, and passersby who are not suspected of any crime.
Local reporting stated that Liberty added 10 Flock rear license plate readers at an annual cost of about $30,000, with the cost added to township payments to the Butler County Sheriff's Office, which provides police service to Liberty Township.
A township-wide vehicle-surveillance system should not be treated like routine equipment. Liberty Township residents deserve clear notice, public debate, records disclosure, and a specific trustee vote before this system continues.
What are we asking Liberty Township to do?
Disclose
Release contracts, invoices, policies, sharing settings, audit procedures, and records showing outside-agency access.
Remove
Vote to terminate or not renew the Flock program and remove township-funded cameras.
Why it matters
Suspicionless collection
ALPR systems do not only record suspects. They capture vehicle-location data from ordinary residents, workers, visitors, families, and passersby who are not suspected of any crime.
Searchable movement history
A deputy seeing one license plate on one road is not the same thing as a vendor-hosted searchable database of vehicle movements over time.
Local consent
A township-wide vehicle-surveillance system should not be treated like routine equipment. Residents deserve clear notice, public debate, records disclosure, and a specific trustee vote.
Data sharing
Residents deserve to know exactly which agencies can access Liberty-funded data, under what rules, and how those searches are audited.
Oversight gap
Ohio law may shield raw ALPR images and data from public-records disclosure, making front-end transparency about contracts, policies, audits, and sharing settings even more important.
Cybersecurity and vendor risk
Sensitive surveillance infrastructure should not expand without independent scrutiny, strict access controls, and public accountability.
Ohio warning signs
Liberty Township does not need to wait for its own scandal before disclosing sharing settings, audit records, policies, and contract terms. Source links should be added before final publication.
Needs source verification
Dayton, Ohio
Public reporting described Dayton covering Flock cameras after an internal review found policy violations involving outside-agency immigration-related searches. Liberty Township should not wait for its own scandal before disclosing sharing settings and audit records.
Source needed
Needs source verification
Cleveland, Ohio
Public reporting described Cleveland officials questioning renewal of a major Flock contract and whether expanded surveillance was improving public safety.
Source needed
Source pending
Shaker Heights, Ohio
Source pending. Public records or local reporting should be added before publishing a specific Shaker Heights claim.
Source needed
Source pending
Kent, Ohio
Source pending. Public records or local reporting should be added before publishing a specific Kent claim.
Source needed
Current status
Petition signatures
0
Records requests filed
0
Responses received
0
Next meeting
To be confirmed
Campaign phase
Records + petition launch
Ask Liberty Township to pause, disclose, and remove.
The petition is hosted outside this static website. Do not submit private license plate data or non-public personal information.