Flock cameras removed from Elgin Community College campus

Elgin Community College had controversial automated license plate-reading cameras removed from its campus earlier this year amid fears that federal immigration enforcement agents could access the data.

Flock Safety removed the cameras after the college’s one-year contract with the company ended in April, according to a written statement from Andrea Watson, ECC’s director of communications.

The Elgin college had six cameras, officials said.

When school officials learned that immigration authorities had accessed Flock camera data at other public institutions in Illinois, the college audited its Flock data.

ECC didn’t find anything suggesting federal immigration agents had accessed the data from its campus, according to the statement.

But “out of an abundance of caution for our students,” the college asked Flock to cancel the contract and remove the cameras, the statement said.

The statement says those requests were unsuccessful. So college workers covered the cameras with bags.

When the contract expired, Flock removed the cameras.

Flock Safety has not responded to a request for comment.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a student at the ECC campus in September 2025 during the federal government’s Operation Midway Blitz campaign.

The Kane County Sheriff’s Office announced earlier this month that Flock ALPRs were being removed from the unincorporated Mill Creek subdivision near Geneva because Mill Creek residents requested the removal.

On Thursday, Undersheriff Amy Johnson said three of the five cameras are yet to be taken down. She also confirmed the county will not be reimbursed for what it spent on the cameras, which were part of a contract for 25 cameras placed across the county.

ssarkauskas@dailyherald.com