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Officials say Bloomington will study Flock surveillance; mayor cites privacy concerns and schedules council report
Summary
Residents pressed officials about Flock AI and other cameras; Mayor Kerry clarified current on-street devices are license-plate readers (11 owned by BPD), said a report to council is due April 15 with discussion planned April 22, and emphasized balancing crime-solving benefits with privacy risks for vulnerable populations.
Multiple residents raised concerns about Flock AI cameras and broader surveillance during the question-and-answer portion of the town hall. Mayor Kerry clarified that the street devices residents have noticed are, at present, license-plate readers owned by the Bloomington Police Department ("there are 11 of those that are owned by BPD"), not the Flock AI object-recognition cameras described on some vendor websites.
The mayor acknowledged privacy worries and said the administration is collecting feedback and consulting stakeholders before any decision. "We are in the middle of the study that we will be producing for council in a couple weeks," she said, adding that the report would be delivered by April 15 and the council would take it up for discussion on April 22.
Officials said they have consulted multiple advisors and community members and are weighing concerns about how surveillance could affect immigrant and transgender residents and other at-risk groups. "Our job as mayor... is to help keep our community safe and we are very carefully weighing people's privacy and how those Flock cameras have been used in other places with our ability to solve crimes as well," she said.
The mayor also noted the city is experimenting with transit pilots (Blink microtransit) and urged residents to report barriers to Bloomington Transit to improve accessibility.
No final policy decision on Flock AI cameras was announced at the meeting; the administration asked residents to await the forthcoming report and council discussion.
