COLUMBUS
The public road is not a location file.
Plate readers photograph every passing car and file the time and place in a searchable database. Here is where they are, and what to do about it.
724 license plate readers mapped in Franklin County
- Flock Safety 692
- Unattributed 32
Volunteer-reported via © OpenStreetMap contributors, as of September 20, 2026. A floor, not a census.
Why this
What it gets used for
An EFF analysis of millions of searches of Flock's network found use for school residency checks and noise complaints. A Washington Post investigation (August 2026) documented at least 50 officers charged with or accused of improperly accessing these systems for personal reasons.
What the Fourth Amendment is for
The courts have not settled whether a searchable record of your driving needs a warrant. A government does not have to wait to find out. It can decide now not to keep the file.
Who pays
These systems arrive as budget lines, grants, donated equipment and contract renewals. Each one is a decision a public body can decline to make.
Nobody was asked
A record of where everyone drives got built without a public vote. The decision belongs to the people living under it. A petition is the public process that was skipped.
What this does not do
It does not ban private cameras
A business, church or household may keep a camera for a lawful purpose. It may not be set up to index every car on a public road. A public-roadway exclusion is how a driveway camera stays a driveway camera.
It does not blind a particular investigation
If a business holds footage tied to a specific case, it can still hand over that footage, voluntarily or under lawful process. Government does not get the password to everyone's driving history.
It does not ban counting traffic
Sensors that only count or classify vehicles, without identifying a particular one, are outside it. The line is identification, not observation.
It does not create a new crime
Accountability runs through evidence exclusion, civil suits, and existing misconduct law for public officials. No new felony.
A petition is a moment. The network is what shows up at the meeting.
Meetings, filings, contracts and votes in Columbus — not three emails a week.