Wilmette residents who drive past any of the village's 22 license-plate-reading cameras face a December deadline that will determine whether those devices stay or go.

The Village Board's Public Safety Committee meets Thursday, Sept. 10, to begin reviewing Wilmette's contract with Flock Safety, the company behind the automated license plate reader (ALPR) network installed in 2022, Patch reported. The contract expires in December. The committee's report will go to the full Village Board for consideration in November.

The Sept. 10 session is the first of two committee meetings planned before that board review. A second is scheduled for October.

The review comes as Flock cameras face growing scrutiny across Illinois and the country. NPR reported Aug. 22 that dozens of cities have canceled Flock contracts over privacy concerns. Closer to home, Homer Glen suspended its Flock program on Aug. 31 after a Will County sheriff's deputy was placed on administrative leave for alleged policy violations, the Chicago Tribune reported.

"I want more reassurances this won't happen," Homer Glen Mayor Christina Neitzke-Troike told the Chicago Tribune on Aug. 31. "Until an investigation is done, I can't put our residents at risk."

Wilmette officials said in an Aug. 30 statement that the village has maintained strict controls on its camera data. ALPR data is purged after 30 days unless it becomes evidence in a criminal case, according to the village. The data has not been shared with agencies outside Illinois or with the federal government, officials said.

The system does not use facial recognition and does not identify drivers or passengers, the village said. The cameras are restricted to investigations of jailable criminal offenses and cannot be used to enforce immigration violations or to interfere with reproductive health care access, according to the village's ALPR page.

A deputy chief evaluates camera locations and the technology's effectiveness each year. The Public Safety Committee has reviewed the program annually since 2023.

Wilmette police said the cameras have flagged vehicles tied to fraud, retail theft, commercial burglary and vehicular hijacking. The department said many alerts do not lead to a stop or arrest but that increased police attention in flagged areas has deterred further crime.

Flock Safety operates more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states, USA Today reported Aug. 10. The company updated its own policies in mid-August after reports of misuse, including a new requirement that officers enter specific codes before accessing the system.

As we reported Aug. 28, Wilmette activated all 22 cameras earlier this year. Residents can view usage statistics and a list of agencies sharing data with Wilmette police through a public transparency portal at transparency.flocksafety.com.

The Sept. 10 Public Safety Committee meeting agenda had not been posted as of Sept. 1.