One of Wilmette's 22 Flock license plate reader cameras is pointed at the entrance of a middle school, a Chicago Tribune investigation published Saturday, Sept. 12, found.

The finding lands as Wilmette's Public Safety Committee reviews the village's Flock contract, which expires in December. The village first contracted with Flock Safety in 2022. According to Patch, the committee was scheduled to meet Thursday, Sept. 10, and plans to meet again in October before sending a recommendation to the Village Board in November.

Curtis Evans, a 66-year-old Evanston resident, discovered the camera during a month-long project biking through the northern suburbs and marking each Flock unit with neon pink poster board. He also found cameras above the access road to the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie and scattered through quiet residential streets.

"People are driving by these cameras all day, everywhere," Evans told the Tribune. "Whether you're breaking the law or not, you're in the system."

The Tribune documented alleged officer misconduct tied to the cameras across the region. A former Kenosha County, Wisconsin, sheriff's deputy was charged with two felony counts for allegedly using Flock to stalk his then-girlfriend. A McHenry County police chief allegedly searched the network nearly 250 times to track former romantic partners. Officers in at least four other Illinois departments have faced discipline for alleged misuse, the Tribune reported.

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias ordered Flock to cut off access to U.S. Customs and Border Protection after a state audit found the federal agency had accessed the system without authorization. Evanston deactivated its cameras in response. Homer Glen voted in August to suspend its program.

Wilmette says it has safeguards. According to the village's ALPR page, camera data is retained for 30 days and then purged unless it becomes evidence in a criminal case. The village states the data has never been shared with agencies outside Illinois or the federal government. The system does not use facial recognition and does not capture images of drivers or passengers, according to Wilmette police.

In an Aug. 31 statement tied to the contract review, village officials said Wilmette has maintained proper controls and that no out-of-state or federal agency has accessed its data.

Neighboring Skokie, which has at least 27 Flock cameras, is conducting its own review. Village Manager John Lockerby announced Sept. 8 that Skokie's Public Safety Commission and Technology Advisory Commission will complete a comprehensive study by March 2027, the Record North Shore reported. Skokie Police Chief Jesse Barnes said the department shares its Flock database with 350 to 400 other in-state police agencies.

At the state level, Rep. Nicolle Grasse, an Arlington Heights Democrat, is co-sponsoring the Automated License Plate Recognition System Act (ALPR Act). The bill would limit which crimes the cameras can be used to investigate and require agencies to delete data within three days. It remains in committee.

Flock Safety announced Aug. 13 that it is reducing its default data retention from 30 days to seven days, Shaw Local reported. The change does not require existing contract holders to shorten their retention periods. Wilmette's current policy keeps data for 30 days.

The Village Board plans to take up the contract question in November, according to the committee's timeline.