Resident raises privacy concerns about Flock Safety cameras; police chief says village system is vetted

A lifelong Lake Zurich resident told the village board he is concerned about automated license-plate reader systems and urged the board to be cautious about their use.

“I'm here to, my name is Rick Glasser. I'm a lifelong resident of Lake Zurich,” Glasser said during public comment, and described what he called privacy and security risks from companies that sell automated license-plate readers. He said such systems can record location, vehicle make and model, license plate numbers, date and time and that the data can be searched and stored indefinitely unless local rules limit retention. He also warned about the risk of minors being filmed, misidentification and past data breaches involving vendor systems.

In staff reports later in the meeting, the police chief addressed those concerns. The chief said Lake Zurich maintains a contract with Flock Safety and operates six cameras on major entry and exit thoroughfares. “It reads the license plate on the car. It has nothing to do with the person driving it,” the chief said, adding that the village’s approach and data-sharing criteria differ from some jurisdictions that have had problematic cross-jurisdictional sharing.

The chief said the department uses the system for investigative services and that the department reports results quarterly as part of a retail-theft-prevention grant from the attorney general’s office. He said the system has been vetted by deputy chiefs and that Lake Zurich uses the technology in conjunction with other investigative work.

Glasser said he had emailed the board a set of links with additional reporting and research he believes are relevant. Board members did not vote on any policy changes related to the cameras at the meeting; the chief’s remarks described current practice and the village’s existing contract with the vendor.