Southgate city leaders are set to hear public feedback Wednesday on whether the five Flock license-plate reading cameras installed around the Campbell County city should stay in place. A petition calling for the program to end has already gathered about 100 signatures, setting up a town hall that could reshape how the small Northern Kentucky city handles surveillance technology.
According to WLWT, Southgate residents will get the chance to weigh in on the city's use of the cameras during the town hall at the Southgate Community Center. Southgate Mayor Jim Hamberg told the station he has not taken a position on the cameras and has been listening to both residents and lawmakers as the debate has unfolded.
The gathering coincides with a Southgate City Council meeting scheduled for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Southgate Community Center on West Walnut Street, according to a report from linknky.com. The council's agenda includes a report from the city's safety committee on the Flock cameras, with the committee expected to produce findings on the technology and how it has been used, per local12.com.
Supporters Cite Crime-Solving, Critics Cite Overreach
Supporters of the cameras say they can help police solve crimes, while opponents have raised concerns over privacy, misuse and police overreach, per the same WLWT account. Those same tensions have been building across the region: linknky.com reports that some residents are worried about how the license-plate data collected by the cameras is stored and who ultimately has access to it.
Southgate's cameras are not operating in isolation. The city is among several listed in a cost-sharing agreement, signed Dec. 18, 2025, between the Kenton County Sheriff's Office and multiple cities for Tyler Technologies services supporting Flock systems, according to linknky.com's reporting. That agreement is described as perpetual and subject to automatic renewal unless all parties involved agree to modify it.
A Regional Reckoning Over License-Plate Readers
Southgate's town hall lands amid a wider reckoning across Northern Kentucky, where towns have paused or ended their Flock contracts following public opposition. As of early October, Newport, Independence, Fort Thomas, Boone County and Kenton County had all terminated or paused their relationships with the company, according to WVXU.
Kentucky.com reports that six Northern Kentucky cities have now announced they are severing ties with Flock, largely due to privacy concerns raised by residents. In Edgewood, Mayor John Link announced on Sept. 1 that the city would immediately pause its program to gather more public input, the outlet noted. Independence, meanwhile, announced it would remove all of its cameras after a public meeting where dozens of residents and some council members voiced opposition, even after the city had 15 cameras installed and had purchased five more in July, according to WVXU's reporting.
Not every community is retreating. Frankfort's city leaders voted unanimously on October 12 not to renew their Flock camera contract, which is set to expire in January 2027, per fox56news.com. Yet local12.com reports that Fort Thomas has been described both as having stopped using Flock cameras and, separately, as considering doubling its camera count — accounts that conflict on the city's current direction. The same outlet reports that Kenton County's Fiscal Court is weighing a separate proposal to install Flock cameras in county parks and near the county jail, even as regional pressure builds against the technology elsewhere. Across Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties, 103 Flock Safety devices are currently approved for use, with more planned, according to linknky.com.
For Southgate, Wednesday's meetings will mark the first formal venue where the city's own safety committee findings and resident voices are expected to be heard together, setting the stage for whatever decision the city council ultimately makes about its five cameras.
