It seems the answer is ‘yes’.
As I continue to investigate the acquisition and deployment of the ALPR systems here in Ottawa, Kansas, the more questions I have.
This all began as a campaign to have the Flock/ALPR cameras removed from a small town. As far as I was aware, after all, there were only four cameras. On August 21, 2026, I emailed the Police Chief a very respectful request to cancel the contract and remove the cameras like his peers recently had done in their towns. Additionally, I provided information available online that brought the actions of one former officer into question for the number of searches he had performed. This one officer had over 200 searches to his name in a short timeframe. The next highest officers’ searches were 70. That email and the follow up received an out-of-office reply and still to this date, no response from the Chief. I figured I hit a nerve and wondered why.
I started raising questions in various groups on Facebook which led to the start of my Facebook page DeFlock Ottawa KS and the start of this blog under the name Taking a Stand Again. One might think that if I make enough noise, the city’s leadership would say it is not worth the headlines and remove them like Gardner and Wellsville. Well, that is only if the City Council is aware of the cameras and my efforts.
I started digging into what Flock actually was and what it can do. That heightened my sense of curiosity and overall disgust that the seemingly quiet town of Ottawa would allow itself to become a part of this mass surveillance network.
What I am finding is, the more layers I pull back, the worse the smell.
My first step was to submit a very simple open records request for basic data that should have been readily available. When I got my invoice from the City Clerk Melissa Scherman I knew I was on to something here. There is no way the data I requested should have taken 2 hours with the IT Department and another 8 hours with the Chief of Police being the custodian of the rest of the records, especially when all but one of the records was the City Clerk’s responsibility. I wasn’t surprised though; I was warned by many others that the City is not very transparent and likes charging a lot of money when they do not want to release records. After much back and forth with the City Clerk, I asked her to close that records request and I would submit a new expanded request to expedite thing verse doing several smaller requests.
The new request took the old one and added new requested information. When I received the new invoice, it no longer showed IT department, still did not show the City Clerk, and only had the Chief of Police as the only records custodian for all responsive records requested. That elevated my curiosity beyond any previous concerns and questions I had. At this point I knew something was off, and the Chief was attempting to prevent me from finding out what that was. I was now quoted 15 hours of his time, and it would take two weeks to complete. I forgot to mention that I wanted to personally inspect the records. I did not need any records copied, emailed, or electronically produced. I just wanted to verify that they existed. This request has been going back for the better part of a month now and is still pending.
In the meantime, I started digging online, looking for anything relevant. I expected to find a proposal or presentation by Flock and other ALPR providers trying to earn the contract, an agenda showing it went before the City Council, a meeting link to watch, and minutes reflecting the discussion and decision of the City Council as required by law. This, followed by the City Planning Commission, rubber stamping the approval of four ALPR cameras in town. That is exactly what I did not find. I have scoured the City of Ottawa’s webpages performing searches that should have led to a discovery of any input by the city’s leadership.
I have used search terms like, ‘ALPR’, ‘LPR’, ‘Flock’, ‘Camera’, ‘license plate reader’, ‘license plate scanner’, and ‘Police’. I have used those terms in the city ordinances, the main website search function, and in the budgets for the city and the police department. Below is the only result that meets those terms relating to ALPR, and the only mention is ‘Flock’ on the last line of the meeting minutes under public comments by Sam White.
Now, at this point, there is zero indication that there are any public records available that relate to Flock or any ALPR in Ottawa. Here’s where things get murky and start looking like the line between legal and illegal gets crossed. My first question was, ‘if the Ottawa City Council did not approve the funding, where did the money come from?’ Well, after my public comments during the Ottawa City Commissioner’s meeting, I had my answer. The Ottawa Police Foundation.
Here is an excerpt from their IRS Form 990EZ to show it is pulled from the IRS website directly.
Notice the second name, Adam Weingartner below. He is listed as the 2IC or second in charge under the title of EX OFFICIO M, or “by virtue of an office”. Adam Weingartner is also the Chief of Police for Ottawa.
The next clip shows the foundation paid for two LPR. This is under Line 30 in this section.
A trusted source ensured me he found documentation showing the cameras located on the two roads leading to Walmart were donated by Walmart. He wasn’t wrong. I did some digging and found the list of donors publicly acknowledged on their website: https://www.ottawapf.org/Donate.html . Take notice to the highlighted line below.
Here, you can see Walmart made three separate donations under the parent umbrella. What is not explained here is what the * indicates.
The next link in the chain comes from the fact that around June 2023, The Ottawa Walmart Supercenter received two Flock Safety ALPR cameras to record every vehicle moving along the only two roads that provide access to the store. One at the top of the picture is high up on a light pole on the north side of Freddy’s facing east towards Walmart on 21st Terrace. The second camera is south in front of Wendy’s also facing east.
So, naturally, my next question is, ‘Because the cameras were not approved or paid for by the City, who authorized the cameras installation in the City’s public utility easement?’ Now, I have to dig into this more, but, as I said previously, the City Planning and Zoning Committee never approved the installation in a public hearing or on the record. My next step is to go to the public works department to request to see the work orders, engineering surveys, authorization documents, etc….if they exist. My suspicion is this was done via a work order from Flock to Dish Network, as they were the subcontractors doing most Flock installations around the country.
Another question is, ‘If the City Commissioners never approved a Flock contract, how does the police department have access to Flock database? Flock requires a contract, memorandum of understanding, or pilot program agreement to move forward. Someone signed the contract, who?
At this point, I no longer wonder if Adam Weingartner broke the law, I wonder just how many laws were broken and are still being broken because of this arrangement? Here’s what I have come up with to date.
Every time anyone uses the Flock database for any reason, it may be a computer crime. Couple that with the fact that the city leadership were blind to Flock, and there are no city ordinances regulating its use, it stands to reason no one outside the police department actually knows if any officers have been unlawfully using their access to the system. I love the quote from Ronald Reagan, “trust, but verify.” Especially given the growing numbers of offices being suspended, demoted, fired, arrested, charged, and convicted for unlawful use of Flock and other ALPR systems.
I believe the following applies here:
KSA 21-6002. Official Misconduct. Official misconduct occurs when any public officer performs an unauthorized act under the color of office or public capacity. In this case, awarding Flock Safety a contract without legal authority to do so and without prior approval of the City Council and City Planning and Zoning Committee. Additionally, doing so without any competitive bidding process, nor legal authority to enter the City of Ottawa into a multi-year Software as a service contract.
KSA 21-6005. Misuse of Public Funds. Misuse of public funds occurs in this situation when, city resources, like public utility easements are used without permission, when utility poles are used without permission, and when on-duty officers are used to monitor surveillance cameras that were never authorized by the City Council.
KSA 21-5801. Theft or Fraud. Theft or fraud may have occurred by Adam by utilizing a profit organization to secretly move money or if he misrepresented the truth about his legal authority to procure Flock cameras for the City. If he did, that is theft by deception.
KSA 10-1101. The Kansas Cash-Basis Law. This law prohibits cities and their departments from creating any financial obligations or debt before the money has been budgeted and appropriated by the City Council.
Resolution 1846-20. In this resolution, the City established a requirement for competitive bidding and explicit City Council approval for any city-wide technology contracts or infrastructure projects.
Illegal Use of Property. Installing equipment on public property, in public rights of way, or on city owned utility poles without an approved municipal agreement or council resolution is illegal trespassing and unauthorized modification.
Additionally, it raises the question of who actually has access to the database. Since the foundation paid for the cameras, do they have access? Regardless, one thing is for sure in my mind this is why my public records requests were going through the police chief and why I was being charged so much. He was banking on me saying never mind, it is not worth that much to find out. Wrong. Just like police like to say, the absence of evidence can tell a story as well.
In the meantime, I have contacted new outlets to see if they want to pick up the story, and I will keep reaching out until one does.
Additionally, I have requested the County Attorney investigate my concerns, though, I doubt he will do much, given his office is also a listed donor to the Ottawa Police Foundation. Seems like a conflict of interest. Because of that, I also filed a report with the Kansas Attorney General and the Kansas Bureau of Investigations to investigate the perceived violations of state law.