Dayton Mayor Shenise Turner-Sloss and Commissioner Darryl Fairchild want more transparency and accountability into automated license plate reader data violations, calling for more information to be released and a review of City Manager Shelley Dickstein.
On Friday, Dayton Police Chief Kamran Afzal revealed that the department failed to enact city restrictions on how the data from the Flock fixed license plate readers could be shared with other departments. That included 7,100 search requests citing immigration-related purposes from various law enforcement agencies, which city policy prohibited.
The department has suspended the program and a planned expansion of it. The commander in charge of implementing the safeguards no longer works for the department.
Dickstein called the widespread data sharing "egregious violations of policy."
Turner-Sloss and Fairchild posted a joint statement on Facebook on Saturday demanding more transparency and accountability.
"The public has a right to know exactly how their data was collected, stored, accessed and shared," the statement said.
The statement said they want:
- A full release of all audit logs from the inception of this technology, beginning with the pilot program launched in 2020.
- A full accounting of when the department first learned of the data sharing, who was notified, and why the public, the mayor and commissioners weren't informed when it was first discovered.
- An explanation of why an expansion of the program was sought in January when the breach was identified in October 2025.
- City commission action to bring the program into compliance and ensure no surveillance technology is used without proper oversight. This includes a review of Dickstein’s performance, and "her failure to follow directives from the mayor and commission."
Neither Dickstein nor a city spokesperson have responded to a WYSO request for comment. This story will be updated when they respond.
Dickstein said at a news conference on Friday that she supports an outside review to evaluate what happened.
"This administration ... also commits to working with the community and the City Commission for however long it takes to create the additional oversights needed to avoid such errors in the future and to rebuild that trust within our commission and our community," she said.
Resident groups have warned about the potential dangers of surveillance technology for years.
Turner-Sloss and Fairchild's statement said they've shared these concerns.
"This is not an isolated failure. It is the product of a broader culture, one that minimizes and dismisses the legitimate concerns of residents, evades accountability, and treats oversight as an obstacle rather than an obligation," they said. "Our community members raised alarms. They were not heard."
