Butler County Transparency Tracker

How many ALPR/Flock cameras exist in Butler County?

There is no single official count, but the tracker below documents cameras in West Chester (32 fixed + 2 portable), Fairfield city (44), Middletown (~30), Hamilton, Oxford, Trenton, Fairfield Township, and Liberty (10, per the signed January 2026 order released to us). Counts come from public records, local reporting, and the EFF Atlas of Surveillance. A precise countywide total still needs records from each agency.

Which jurisdictions fund them?

Documented so far: Liberty Township — released records show a signed order for 10 cameras at $30,000/yr on a 36-month auto-renewing term (Jan 2026), matching the reported Liberty-funded deployment via BCSO payments; West Chester (~$189,200/2 yr); Oxford ($219,000/5 yr); Middletown using a state grant. Funding for the remaining jurisdictions is not yet documented. See the tracker below.

Which agency controls access?

Now documented for Liberty: the Township's own response letter says BCSO is the contracting party with Flock, and BCSO's released Policy 4.36 puts designated BCSO administrators in charge of user permissions and of granting access to other law enforcement agencies. The Sheriff's Office also holds both a Flock contract and a 287(g) immigration-enforcement agreement with ICE (WOSU, 2026). Released records are on the Records page.

Which agencies can search the data?

Partially documented. BCSO's released policy lets its administrators grant camera access to other law enforcement agencies at their discretion, with no listed limits, and its signed Flock package includes State Network and Nationwide Network plate lookup. Which specific agencies can search Liberty-funded data is exactly what the denied audit-log request would show — our narrowed follow-up is pressing for it.

Are federal agencies able to request or access data?

Still undisclosed — and now formally denied. BCSO's released policy says nothing about federal access either way, and BCSO denied our request for the logs that would answer it, citing the R.C. 149.43(A)(1)(yy) database exemption. What is documented: WOSU reported that BCSO is one of four Ohio agencies holding both a Flock contract and a 287(g) ICE agreement.

Are immigration-related searches allowed or prohibited?

BCSO's released ALPR policy is silent on immigration — it neither allows nor prohibits immigration-related searches, and the logs that would show actual use were denied. Context: Dayton found about 7,150 immigration-related searches of its Flock data by outside agencies; per Dayton's released logs, BCSO ran six immigration-related searches of Dayton's data since 2023 (Dayton Daily News, 2026).

What is the retention period?

Now documented: Flock purges data after 30 days of storage, per both the signed order and BCSO Policy 4.36. But the policy also allows BCSO to download data and keep it beyond 30 days under its own retention schedules, so 30 days is a ceiling on Flock's copy, not on everything collected.

Are audit logs reviewed independently?

Now documented: no. BCSO Policy 4.36 requires one random internal audit per year, documented in a memo to the Chief Deputy. There is no independent review and no public reporting, and BCSO denied our request for the audit records themselves.

Are false hits tracked?

Unknown. BCSO's released policy says an ALPR alert should be verified through LEADS 'if practicable' before enforcement action, but no false-hit tracking or public reporting has been disclosed, and the request for false-hit and complaint records was denied with the rest of the log request.

Are public reports issued?

None. BCSO's released policy provides for no public reporting — its only oversight output is an internal annual memo to the Chief Deputy. The reporting tools exist: the signed Flock order includes network audit reports, plate read reports, event logs, and outcome reports as product features.

Are camera locations publicly disclosed?

Not officially. Public mapping projects such as DeFlock crowdsource suspected locations, but no agency has disclosed official locations. The Township's response letter referenced potentially responsive records that were never delivered — we've asked for them.