Why is an ordained huckster advocating for mass surveillance in Cleveland?
Pastor Aaron Phillips and Mayor Justin Bibb have found common cause in Flock, a problematic and ineffective company routinely abused by police.
This dispatch is too long for email. Please open your browser to view in full.
Today features the return of Cleveland-based freelancer Saint Claire. (You can read their previous reporting on The Rooster over here.)
Next week, Cleveland City Council is set to vote on continuing a contract with Flock, a nationwide surveillance network that once showcased its power to watch a children’s gymnastics class and a Jewish Community Center while pitching officials in Dunwoody, Georgia.
Flock later won the contract.
According to Saint Claire, Cleveland Council has already secured the votes necessary to continue the mass surveillance of its citizens. But it’s still worth looking at the issue through the lens of Mayor Résumé’s political ambitions, as well as the involvement of his problematic consultant, the alleged pastor Aaron Phillips.
As always, freelancers at The Rooster are compensated at a fair market rate for their work before publication—an uncommon courtesy in this forsaken industry that we can extend thanks to the brave and noble soldiers in the Patriots Caucus.
Today’s dispatch is free to read in its entirety.
If you’re a freeloading hog huffing fumes in the parking lot, we’d be honored if you considered this act of charity a divine sign to throw a couple of rubies into the coffers to keep the lights on at Rooster Worldwide LLC.
I’ll be back in your inbox later today with the weekly Rooster in Review roundup. Until then, here’s Saint Claire!
Lord, come get your Flock by Saint Claire
It appears inevitable that Cleveland’s future will be filled with Flock.
Despite the loud, nationwide opposition to mass surveillance technology—Flock being one of the most commonly discussed—automated License Plate Readers have long found a home in Cleveland.
Cleveland has used Flock cameras dating back to 2023, though on Tuesday, County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley’s office said they were successfully used in 2017, so that’s weird.
One of Flock’s most diehard supporters is the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD), which quietly approved a $600,000 contract in Aug. 2025 without discussion during the CMSD School Board’s first meeting, held with a less public agenda.
But frankly, we all should have been organizing against the issue—especially those on the Left—long before former Ward 3 Councilmember Kerry McCormack vacated his seat early to take a job at Flock.
Despite 2025 being a messy municipal election year that rarely discussed Flock technology, it became a focus for a group of Cleveland-area residents, many of whom seem to be part of literally every left-leaning mobilization in Cleveland, to attempt to beat back Flock legislation, referring to themselves as ‘Flock No’.
The next six months brought some discussion at the local level, mainly several pieces from Cleveland.com reporter Sean McDowell and, interestingly, a piece in Crain’s Cleveland by Ohio State Representative Tristan Rader (D-Lakewood).
But as Cleveland City Council has communicated time and time again, there was very little evidence—and therefore discussion—of the technology's success or improved outcomes from Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration, other than the usual “we-used-it-when-we-locked-someone-up.”
Flock No persisted, but they encountered opposition from a pro-Flock organization, seemingly led by the Cleveland Clergy Coalition, whose Executive Director is Pastor Aaron Phillips.
The clergy coalition also registered at the same address as Sure House Baptist Church, of which Aaron Phillips is the Pastor.
Longtime readers of The Rooster may recall our earlier reporting on the apostolate that Pastor Phillips and the Cleveland Clergy Coalition.
Unsurprisingly, Pastor Phillips appeared time and time again throughout the uncovering of the inflamed, ruptured hemorrhoid that was HB-6, the largest bribery scheme in state history (that we know about):
The other ‘unholy alliance’
Two weeks ago, federal prosecutors indicted FirstEnergy’s former CEO and board member, Chuck Jones, and senior VP of external affairs, Michael Dowling.
Pastor Phillips has also been unashamed in his support for Flock.
About a week before the Safety Committee’s first vote on sending the Flock contract extension to city council, Pastor Phillips started a petition in support of renewing Flock’s contract:
Originally reported by Frank Lewis of Signal Cleveland, Pastor Phillips stated at the June 17 meeting (when the Safety Committee initially voted against Flock’s contract extension) that “Flock representatives had reached out to meet with his group and explain the technology.”
Lewis quotes Phillips as saying: “As it was explained to us, this is a great tool. We will always be on the side of safety and security.”
Phillips also delved into classic East Side vs. West Side rhetoric, according to Kimberly Perez of Spectrum.
“We want to make sure that these cameras aren’t just used in downtown and on the west side. We want these cameras used on our side of town as well.”
And after the second hearing on the Flock contract extension this past Tuesday, the Safety Committee reversed course and voted in favor of Flock’s contract, meaning the Cleveland City Council as a whole will now consider its potential extension on July 15.
Pastor Phillips, who identified himself as living at “2063 E 36th St” (49:54) and serving as a pastor at “11318 Miles Ave” (50:09), sat before the Safety Committee to do what he does best—testify.
Pastor Phillips considers his work as a Vessel of the Lord as providing him with the authority to testify on how the Black community needs mass surveillance. But one could also say that, as a former prosecutor in Bill Mason’s office, he probably has some experience relevant to consider here.
What is that history, exactly?
Well, in another lifetime, Phillips played an important role in the corrupt Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office under the almost-indicted Bill Mason.
Prosecutor Phillips’s specialty was being brought in to use rather inflammatory characterizations against Black defendants, something permissible given that he was one of the few Black prosecutors in the office.
Or as Bill Mason was quoted as saying, “I liked Aaron. He had a lot of issues, but I worked with him because he had a lot of talent. He was able to get results in a courtroom.”
But his reign as the office’s Black prosecutor came to an end when he was finally caught taking money from defendants in exchange for a promise of some type of deal.
In September 2003, he was ultimately charged with bribery, attempted bribery, theft in office, obstructing justice, tampering with evidence, possession of cocaine and criminal tools.
He served six months of a 2.5-year sentence and lost his law license.
But he wasn’t down for long, as he had his ordained Baptist minister license to fall back on. And the man who built a career out of wrongfully incarcerated Black Clevelanders prepared to whore himself out in the name of mass incarceration political interests—though not literally, as Cleveland’s actual prostitutes have more integrity than Pastor Phillips.
In April 2018, slightly before his testimony in favor of Ohio’s precursor to HB-6, Phillips formed his own business, which he christened “Engagement Consulting Services, Inc.”
Though Pastor Phillips seems to lead both entities, Engagement Consulting Services, Inc. is at least supposed to appear to be different than the Cleveland Clergy Coalition.
However, both are registered at the same address, 2063 E 36th Street, where Phillips has claimed in public testimony as his residence.
There’s one other place where that E 36th Street address appears: In Mayor Justin Bibb’s campaign finance expenditure reports starting in 2025.
In fact, since May 2025, Mayor Bibb has paid Engagement Consulting Inc., listed at the same address discussed above, $2,500 per month, for a total of $17,500 in 2025.
Bibb’s 2025 Semi-Annual campaign finance report:
Bibb’s 2025 Pre-General campaign finance report:
Bibb’s 2025 Post-General campaign finance report:
Is Bibb paying Phillips now, with both men aligned at extending a contract for mass surveillance that has been routinely abused by American police and cooperates with ICE?
Well, we won’t know until later this month when Mayor Bibb’s 2026 Semi-Annual Campaign Finance Report is due.
But it’s not too late, Pastor.
To quote 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
There’s a special place in Hell for someone who makes their nut undermining the Black community for mass incarceration interests.
But hey, all in the name of safety, right?
THOSE WMDs. The age of Damon Zex… Why did it take so long for Half Price Books to return to Houston’s Inner Loop… Why Messi keeps thriving as Cristiano fades: The GOAT’s always been the best… FanDuel sent a personalized message from Bryce Harper to a customer with a gambling addiction… The teenage millionaire hacker from London who was brought down by a takeaway order… The demon next door.
 | A guest post by
|