Label
Prohibited Uses of Toledo Police Department Technologies
Councilman Martinez
Title
Codifying the prohibited uses of police technology and safeguarding privacy rights; prohibiting the sharing of data with outside agencies or tracking Toledoans; for the purpose of immigration enforcement, gender-affirming care, and reproductive rights; and further to restrict people tracking, racial profiling, and tracking for the purpose of harassment, intimidation, and personal use.
Body
SUMMARY & BACKGROUND:
The right to data privacy for citizens and visitors of Toledo alike must be balanced with the ever-evolving technological landscape. While individuals may have limited expectations of privacy in public spaces, location data collected through license plate readers, cell phones, and other surveillance technologies should be protected from misuse and unauthorized sharing with outside law enforcement agencies.
Regardless of changes to state or federal laws governing reproductive healthcare, gender-affirming care, and other personal matters, Toledo residents and visitors should be able to make decisions about their health and private lives without fear of surveillance, or discrimination. The City must also protect individuals’ data privacy as it relates to immigration enforcement, racial profiling, or the personal tracking of individuals by police officers outside legitimate law enforcement purposes. The collection and use of sensitive location data can expose deeply personal information, disproportionately harm vulnerable communities, and undermine public trust. Protecting the privacy of individuals’ movements is essential to safeguarding civil liberties, ensuring equal treatment under the law, and preserving the right of every person to live free from harassment and intimidation.
The Toledo City Council supports the use of technology to promote public safety while recognizing that these tools must be subject to clear limits, meaningful oversight, and strong privacy protections. To uphold these principles, the City should restrict surveillance systems, including Flock Safety’s cameras and automated license plate readers, from sharing location data with outside entities seeking to identify, track, or investigate individuals based on their pursuit of reproductive healthcare, access to gender-affirming, immigration status, or other protected personal activities.
The City should also establish safeguards against the use of these systems for racial profiling, personal surveillance by law enforcement officers, harassment, or intimidation. While these technologies may improve law enforcement capabilities, their potential for misuse demands responsible oversight and firm boundaries. Public safety must not come at the expense of fundamental rights, personal privacy, or the dignity of Toledo’s residents and visitors.
Summary
NOW THEREFORE, Be it ordained by the Council of the City of Toledo:
SECTION 1. Toledo Police Department will restrict any sharing of data regarding reproductive healthcare use, gender-affirming care, and immigration status through software including but not limited to Flock Safety systems, and take continuous actions to safeguard the privacy of this data, through internal policies and protocols.
SECTION 2. Reproductive healthcare, gender-affirming care, and immigration status data shall not be made available for law enforcement actions of any affiliated or cooperating law enforcement agency.
SECTION 3. Toledo Police Department will also develop internal policy to prevent the use of emerging technologies to stalk, harass, racially profile, or otherwise retaliate against citizens, and officers must be subject to dismissal for misusing technology in this way.
SECTION 4. Toledo Police Department will hold monthly reviews of data-sharing within Flock systems, to determine law enforcement agencies that hold a federal 287(g) agreement and manually remove them from our sharing partners.
Vote on emergency clause: yeas _____, nays _____.
Passed: _________________, as an emergency measure: yeas _____, nays _____.
Attest: ________________________ __________________________________
Clerk of Council President of Council
Approved: _____________________ __________________________________
Mayor
I hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of an Ordinance passed by Council ________________________.
Attest: ________________________
Clerk of Council