Audrey Brink, Asst. Sports Editor
June 4, 2026, was a weird day for 21-year-old Lily Charkow.
Charkow, a senior at Denison University, woke up and headed to her summer job as an admissions docent for the school. Later that day, she drove off campus for an appointment. Everything appeared typical. What Charkow did not know was that as she drove down the hill, a Flock camera captured her license plate.
Flock cameras, installed at the four entrances to Denison’s campus in 2022, are designed to capture the license plates of vehicles entering campus. For Charkow, however, that routine scan would soon lead to an unexpected encounter with Campus Safety and Granville police.
Following her appointment, she was alarmed to see a series of missed calls from campus security and a text from her roommate who was at their shared apartment.
“Campus Security and Graville Police are here asking if you’re around. Something to do with your car,” her roommate said.
Following a confusing call with Campus Security, Charkow was instructed to go to the Granville Police Department. There, she soon learned that her license plate had been incorrectly associated with a vehicle reported stolen in New York.
The issue was eventually determined to be a data-entry error. Someone in New York had entered Charkow’s Illinois license plate number when registering the stolen vehicle. The mistake was resolved within roughly 15 to 20 minutes, but the experience left Charkow confused and anxious.
“I was just very scared. I didn’t understand what was happening. I can’t imagine being asked to go to a police station and not feeling nervous,” Charkow said.
Denison Campus Safety Director David Rose said Flock cameras were installed “as a security enhancement.”
According to Rose, the cameras can alert Campus Safety when a vehicle associated with an active protection order, banned individual, or known threat enters campus. They can also cross-reference license plates with National Crime Information Center databases and allow investigators to search vehicle entry logs following an incident.
Rose said the cameras have already helped Denison identify and prosecute a theft suspect who came to campus and stole a catalytic converter from a student vehicle.
But Charkow’s experience raises questions about what happens when the cameras produce incorrect information.
Charkow’s experience did not stay within her own circle of friends. Word of the incident spread across campus, eventually reaching first-year student Sienna Dehaemers.
Dehaemers was surprised by what she heard and decided to make Flock cameras one of the central issues of her campaign for the Denison Campus Governance Association.
Dehaemers said she does not believe she knows enough about Flock cameras to call for their removal. Instead, she wants students to have more information about why they are on campus, who can access the information they collect and how their use is regulated.
“I want to learn more and then I want to figure out how we can have an open discussion about it,” Dehaemers said.
For Dehaemers, the issue is about transparency. She said she was surprised to learn that Flock cameras have been part of campus security since 2022 despite having no previous knowledge of them.
“I think that when there’s something that is constantly a part of your life that you just don’t realize is there, it kind of feels invasive,” she said.
Charkow similarly believes students should know more about this technology, particularly those who bring cars to campus.
“I definitely feel like it’s important for people to know what’s going on in their local communities, especially at Denison,” Charkow said. “There is a tendency to kind of assume that because you’re going to college in a small town, you don’t need to know much. But, I think it’s really good for students just to stay aware about what’s going on around them.”