Dayton city leaders and the police department continue navigating public frustration regarding its use of Flock cameras.
Now some residents are demanding the mayor and the city commissioners immediately remove the devices and fire the city manager.
Wednesday evening, Dayton residents packed the commission room. Many listed arguments why the city must immediately take down all Flock cameras. That included Joseph Abrams.
"Why are we funding militarization of all of our neighborhoods while people are sleeping on the streets, kids can't have grocery stores or access to medicine," Abrams said. "Fires burning all over and we don't have enough firemen to deal with it."
Ri Molar is a mental health therapist. She said the city’s use of the license plate readers is subjecting some residents to a type of psychological abuse.
"Being watched, being tracked everywhere we go," Molar said. "People are afraid to leave their homes. They're afraid. That's because of you all also being complicit in allowing these cameras to go up all over the place."
On May 1, the city suspended its automated license plate reader camera program. That came after an internal review revealed data was shared widely with local, state and federal agencies, against city policy. More than 7,100 search requests by law enforcement agencies were immigration related.
Residents are also calling for the release of all data logs back to 2020, public hearings and community meetings, an independent investigation and a change in the ordinance in order to hold police accountable.
Stephen Weir said there would be a benefit to redirecting Flock funds for other causes, such as cleaning up nuisance properties.
"The best way to prevent crime is to support our neighborhoods, not to surveil them," Weir said.
The commission and Mayor Shanice Turner-Sloss agreed to disband the license reading cameras.
"And I too agree with the public, the cameras need to be removed," Turner-Sloss said.
Commissioner Matt Joseph requested more accountability.
"In the meantime, I call upon our city manager and chief to re-examine all of our data sharing policies, whatever department, and the processes that ensure compliance with commission, direction, and policy to make absolutely sure this breakdown is not repeated. It doesn't fix what happened before, but we at least have to close the door so it doesn't happen again," Joseph said.
Several in the audience also want City Manager Shelley Dickstein to be fired. Zakia Sankar-Jabbar accused her of being ineffective.
"People have been coming down here for years, complaining about all kinds of issues, from community violence, policing, housing, everything. She's been here for 10 years. Everything that we see happening in the community, she's the CEO. She's be running the city for 10 year," Sankar-Jabbar said.
Meanwhile, Tara Campbell urged city leaders to be more engaged with the community.
"There is no community without us. There is not way to move faster or move forward without us," Campbell said. "Be intentional on wanting to hear the voices of who elected you, to hear our pain, to hear what's problems with everyone that lives here, to not sit here and act like we don't exist, like we are not important to this process."
Turner-Sloss said the commission is committed to earning the public's trust.
"We failed the constituents of this community because we relied our trust in something else and someone else in other systems, and it was not reciprocated," Turner-Sloss said.
A May 30 town hall meeting will focus on public safety.
