Several suburban municipalities are reviewing the use of Flock cameras and placing police officers on leave amid a growing epidemic of alleged police abuse of the vast surveillance system.
Homer Glen announced Monday that it was suspending the use of Flock cameras within its borders “pending final determination of the investigation and review of the Sheriff’s ALPR protocol” after a Will County Sheriff’s Deputy was placed on administrative leave amid allegations he misused the technology.
“The Village understands that the investigation has to take its course and remains committed to public safety,” it wrote in a statement Monday. “However, given the limited information that has been reported to date, and the privacy concerns at issue, the Village has suspended the utilization of Flock ALPR cameras located within the Village of Homer Glen, pending final determination of the investigation and review of the Sheriff’s ALPR protocol.”
West Chicago is also reviewing its use of Flock cameras after officials announced Tuesday that city police officers may have performed unauthorized searches between late 2024 and early 2025 using the technology. The Channahon Police Department is also making a similar review after an investigation found that its officers may have also made unauthorized searches. Officers accused of wrongdoing in each case were placed on administrative leave.
At West Chicago’s request, the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office is investigating alongside an internal inquiry into the officer’s conduct and a review of the safeguards around use of the system, according to a statement from the city.
“[West Chicago] recognizes the broader public concern surrounding the use of automated license plate readers,” the city said in a statement. “These tools have provided important public safety benefits, but their use must be balanced with appropriate safeguards, clear policies, meaningful oversight, and accountability.”
They’re among dozens of officers who have been accused of misconduct related to the technology in recent months.
In recent months, a part-time Prairie Grove police officer, who was also serving as top cop in Holiday Hills, was accused of using the system to stalk people he knew through nearly 250 unauthorized searches of their license plate movements. He now faces multiple felony charges of official misconduct.
Last month, Frank McGrath, a former sheriff’s deputy in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, was hit with felony charges after an audit revealed he’d used Flock to spy on a co-worker, according to the agency.
Law enforcement officials say Flock’s system helps crack cases by allowing them to easily pinpoint crime suspects. But for Illinois State Police’s nearly 600 license plate readers — which are made and managed by the Chicago-based Motorola Solutions — less than 3% of the more than 3 billion vehicles they scanned over the last year were flagged for investigations.
Additionally, Flock’s data from Illinois has been accessed by out-of-state officials monitoring abortions and by federal immigration agents whose coordination with local police is restricted under state law.
The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office investigated the Mount Prospect Police Department last summer after its data was accessed by officials in Texas seeking a woman whose family was concerned she had a self-administered abortion.
The office’s subsequent statewide audit of the technology found Flock “did not have proper safeguards in place for data sharing” and that the northwest suburb’s data was accessed in hundreds of immigration-related searches in early 2025.
Motorola Solutions has since said it cut off the agency’s access to cameras in Illinois and taken steps to ensure state laws aren’t broken. Flock has announced similar measures.