Two Reynoldsburg police officers resigned last month while under investigation for allegedly misusing the city's Flock automated license-plate camera system. The departures have put a local surveillance tool sold as a crime-fighting shortcut under a very public stress test.
Alissa Birkhimer resigned from the Reynoldsburg Police Department on July 16 after about 9.5 years, while Mark Nichols II left on July 13 after 3.5 years. Both departures occurred while the department was investigating alleged misuse of the city's Flock system, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The report said Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission records listed the July separations.
Flock cameras are automated license-plate readers that capture images and vehicle information for police searches, rather than body-worn cameras or continuous video surveillance. Under Reynoldsburg's Flock policy, the system can be used to identify stolen or wanted vehicles, locate missing people and assist criminal investigations. Access is limited to authorized personnel, and searches are restricted to official law-enforcement business.
The policy also says officers do not need reasonable suspicion or probable cause before using the system, which makes the required purpose and audit trail especially important. In other words, the technology is designed to make searching easy; the rules are supposed to keep that convenience from becoming a personal tracking service.
Union Calls For Due Process As Probe Continues
Brian Steel, president of Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, told The Columbus Dispatch that the union does not support misuse of police technology. He also said accountability should come with due process and consistent standards, and that the lodge would not pursue arbitration for the two former officers.
Steel said Nichols is dealing with an ALS diagnosis, is in a wheelchair and cannot speak, and that he was unaware Nichols was under investigation. He also said Nichols' resignation was connected to the diagnosis, adding another layer to a personnel case that remains unresolved in the public record.
Why The Camera Rules Matter In Reynoldsburg
A resignation during an open probe is not itself a finding of misconduct, and the available reporting does not announce a completed disciplinary finding or criminal charge. The central unanswered questions are what searches investigators believe were improper, whether any person was specifically targeted and whether the department will release findings after the personnel exits.
Reynoldsburg's Flock network has been in place for years. WOSU reported in 2023 that the city had 22 fixed plate-reading cameras and approved a five-year, $290,000 contract renewal. Police officials described the system as useful for recovering stolen vehicles and helping protect domestic-violence victims, while privacy advocates warned that searchable plate histories could reveal where people travel.
The broader Central Ohio debate has not cooled since then. As Hoodline previously reported, Columbus kept its own Flock network in March despite concerns about federal access, data sharing and the possibility of a searchable surveillance dragnet.
The city now publicly posts its Flock policy and usage information on its transparency page. That matters because the promise of these systems rests less on the cameras themselves than on whether agencies can show residents who searched the data, why they searched it and what happens when someone crosses the line.
For now, Reynoldsburg has two former officers, an unfinished investigation and a surveillance system whose legitimacy depends on rules being more than words in a policy manual. The next substantive update will likely come from the department's findings—or from whatever records reveal how the disputed searches were actually made.
