Mount Prospect renews contract with controversial license plate camera reader outfit

Mount Prospect village board members this week approved a two-year renewal of its license plate camera reader contract with Flock Safety, despite significant data privacy violations discovered earlier this year.

In June, the Illinois Secretary of State's office identified a major data breach involving Flock. Mount Prospect and approximately 80 other Illinois law enforcement agencies inadvertently enabled a “nationwide lookup” feature, allowing unauthorized out-of-state agencies to access their camera data without proper authorization or legal justification.

“We inadvertently clicked on (it) because we didn't realize (on) the other side, anybody who checked on nationwide lookup had access to everybody else who clicked that same box,” explained Mount Prospect Police Chief Michael Eterno. “That was something we did not know at the time.”

Flock Safety implemented several new safeguards in response, including complete removal of agencies that violated Illinois data-sharing agreements and AI-powered audits to flag any search terms that go against Illinois law.

“We have always worked to make compliance easy, and ever since this situation with the Secretary of State, we’ve added significantly more resources to make compliance that much easier,” said Trevor Chandler, Flock's director of public affairs.

The new $137,000 deal splits the original contract into two separate agreements. One, for $72,000, provides 10 permanently mounted cameras, one portable camera and software access. Another, for $65,000, is for 13 additional cameras to be installed. The 13 are awaiting permit approval from either IDOT or Cook County.

The Flock system allows officers to search by complete or partial license plates, detailed vehicle descriptions, and specific features like bumper stickers. The cameras capture license plate information and “vehicle fingerprint” technology to identify vehicles even when plates are altered or stolen.

Data is retained for 30 days unless downloaded as evidence.

“Over the last two years, even with less than 50% of the cameras up, it's been an amazing change agent for us, everything from stolen cars to missing people to identifying individuals involved in very violent crimes in this community,” Eterno said.