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Residents warn Madison County supervisors about license‑plate readers and a proposed motorsports park
Summary
Two public commentators urged the board to act: one urged removal of Flock Safety ALPR cameras citing privacy risks and vendor terms; another warned about a proposed Throttle Therapy motorsports park, citing wetlands, poor road access, and troubling social‑media tactics used in other counties.
During the public‑comment portion of the meeting, two residents spoke at length to raise concerns about separate local issues.
Iden Farnsworth told the board he supports law enforcement yet concluded that automated license plate readers (ALPRs), particularly those supplied by Flock Safety, "have no place in our county." Farnsworth said the devices capture persistent movement data — plate number, date, time and location — and alleged the vendor’s terms and conditions give the company broad rights to use and disclose customer data. "The LPR policy also goes against their FAQ... Our team does have software in place to measure camera performance... This loophole is so large you could drive a tractor through it," Farnsworth said, urging the board to reconsider the county's use of the cameras.
Farnsworth tied his comments to the Madison County Sheriff's Office public notice on ALPR usage and quoted vendor policy language to argue vendor access to LPR data could be broader than the sheriff’s notice implies. He described real‑world misidentification risks and said less than 1% of scanned plates are connected to wrongdoing according to sources he cited.
Ken Jamerson, who said he was visiting from Powhatan and grew up nearby, warned the board about a proposed Throttle Therapy motorsports park application in Palatine. Jamerson said the proposed site is a tree farm with no viable road access and sits in wetlands, and he described aggressive promotional tactics he observed at other project locations including social‑media campaigns and the creation of fake accounts to pressure opponents. "Most of our opposition is not against riding, but the proposed location is not a viable option... It's in a wetland," Jamerson said, and urged board members to speak with residents who live closest to existing Throttle Therapy operations in Orange County.
The board thanked both speakers and moved on to departmental reports. No formal action on ALPR policy or the motorsports application was taken at this meeting.
