Debate about Flock cameras postponed in Mundelein
A planned discussion of the Mundelein Police Department’s continued use of surveillance cameras that capture images of passing cars has been postponed.
The committee-of-the-whole meeting originally scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at village hall will now be held Nov. 23. The session was put off because of more pressing issues, Village Administrator Eric Guenther said Friday.
Cameras made by Flock and other companies scan passing vehicles. The systems alert police when cars being sought pass cameras, based on manufacturer, model, color, license plates or other distinguishing features.
Law enforcement agencies, schools and private companies across the Chicago area and the nation that use the surveillance systems can share data. Instances of law enforcement agencies and individual officers abusing the data have garnered significant attention.
Last year, Texas authorities reportedly used data from thousands of cameras — including those in Mount Prospect — to try to find a woman who had an abortion. Closer to home, a former Prairie Grove police officer who also was a chief in Holiday Hills was charged this summer with felony counts of official misconduct alleging he unlawfully accessed reader data to track people, including women he dated.
Also this summer, a Bloomingdale police officer was placed on administrative leave after possible misuse of the village’s cameras was uncovered.
Those and other cases prompted Mundelein Trustee Tony Ugaste in August to call for a review of the village’s two-year-old contract with Flock.
Ugaste said he doesn’t believe Mundelein police are misusing the Flock Safety surveillance system. But in addition to apparent abuse by other officers, Ugaste expressed worry about what Atlanta-based Flock does with the data from the cameras Mundelein leases.
The board won’t take final action regarding the cameras during the committee meeting. A recommendation is possible, however.
Elgin Community College officials ordered plate-reading cameras removed from campus this year. Similar action has been weighed in Rolling Meadows and other suburbs.
The Mundelein village board will hold a regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at village hall, 300 Plaza Circle. It’ll be the first board meeting since the Lake County state’s attorney’s office on Thursday announced it won’t file charges against a police sergeant who fatally shot resident Mary Alice Love in May while she experienced a mental health crisis.
The Love family on Thursday filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the village and Sgt. Christopher Brigano, who remains on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of a departmental review.
rlissau@dailyherald.com