Columbus police have paused their use of Flock automatic license plate readers after an officer was accused of searching the same plate more than 270 times over roughly 14 months.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that Mayor Andrew Ginther called the allegations against the officer “deeply troubling” in comments made this week as the city moved to immediately halt use of the cameras and cover them with bags to prevent further data collection. The city will also audit all Flock searches conducted by Columbus police, and City Council is drafting legislation to govern how the cameras can be used going forward.
The officer at the center of the investigation is Melvin Tellis, a member of the City Council Executive Protection Unit who joined the force in 2017. According to a USA TODAY analysis of public records, Tellis searched a single license plate more than 270 times between November 2023 and December 2024. The reasons he gave were generally vague, often listed simply as “location.”
Police Chief Elaine Bryant said the division believes the searches were not related to Tellis’ job, though she declined to provide details about the license plate in question. Bryant said the division learned of the searches on September 1, one day after the Dispatch began asking questions about search history flagged as suspicious in the USA TODAY database. Tellis was relieved of duty as the investigation proceeds, required to turn in his gun, badge and other equipment, and reassigned to a desk job at police headquarters. He continues to be paid.
Breitbart News previously reported that Flock CEO Garrett Langley has called for a “compromise” between safety and privacy:
“When people talk about just one of these, privacy or safety, they’re prioritizing the wrong thing, and what we have to prioritize as a country is compromise,” Langley said. He framed the challenge facing his company and the country plainly: “How do we have our safety, and how do we balance privacy?”
Langley addressed that reporting in a separate interview with CBS News, after listening to an account from one of the alleged victims of stalking. “I apologize. It kills me that she went through that,” he said. But he rejected the idea that Flock bears responsibility for how officers misuse the tools. “I don’t think that Flock created police abuse. I think we’re the first company to ever shine a light on it and build the tools to find it,” he said.
Read more at the Columbus Dispatch here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.