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Residents press Oak Park to cancel Flock ALPR contract; police cite investigative uses
Summary
Residents and several public speakers urged the Village Board to cancel Oak Park's contract with Flock Safety for automatic license plate reader (ALPR) data, saying Flock's data retention and sharing policies threaten privacy and community trust; police leaders said they have used ALPR data in investigations that recovered firearms and led to arrests.
Public commenters and several trustees used the meeting to press the Village to end its contract with Flock Safety, the private company that stores and analyzes automatic license plate reader (ALPR) data used by Oak Park police.
Alicia (full name not provided), a Cook County psychiatric nurse practitioner who practices in Oak Park, told trustees she has lost patient visits because out‑of‑state clients fear ALPR data being shared. "Please end automatic license plate readers and Flock data recording," she said. Another speaker, identified as a community organizer, urged the village to follow cities such as Austin and Denver and ‘‘deflock’’ their communities, saying media reports and audits show law enforcement queries of ALPR networks can be used to track reproductive‑health travel and immigration enforcement.
Speakers said the problem is not only agency queries but the corporate data practices of Flock Safety, which contracts for broad use of historical data and may retain access to records even if local agencies turn sharing off. "These harms cannot be mitigated or regulated out of Flock because they are what the system was built to do," a speaker said, urging the board to cancel the contract and redirect resources to community‑based programs such as ECHO.
Police Chief (full name) Johnson and other senior department staff responded that the department is reviewing legal and policy issues and working with the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, their legal team, and Flock Safety. Chief Johnson noted the system produced investigative leads in violent crime cases: he reported that ALPR data searches contributed to investigations in several incidents in 2024, including cases that led to recovered firearms and arrests. "We recovered two guns and made two arrests related to gun violence" linked to ALPR investigative searches, Chief Johnson said during his annual report presentation. He asked for patience while the department and oversight bodies work through policy and legal questions.
Trustees and staff noted the issue is under review and that the board and its oversight commission will receive additional information. One board member said he had been told a vote to cancel the contract might be scheduled for an upcoming meeting; no formal board action to cancel the contract occurred during this session.
Why it matters: ALPRs collect time‑stamped vehicle location records at scale. Advocates say corporate access to archived ALPR data and networked lookups can enable retroactive surveillance and cross‑jurisdictional sharing that harm privacy and immigrant communities; police and some residents counter that the system yields investigatory value for violent crimes.
Officials and commenters asked for clearer oversight, more public data on searches and outcomes, and whether oversight bodies such as the Civilian Police Oversight Commission should be asked to review ALPR use and results. Chief Johnson said staff provides monthly and quarterly briefings to CPOC about searches and cases and that the department is cooperating with external reviews. The board directed staff to continue review and stated an intention to bring additional information to the board and to the oversight commission for fuller evaluation.
