Warrenville residents raise privacy concerns over Flock cameras

Well, Anita, the flawed camera program wasn't even on the agenda tonight, but it certainly didn't stop residents, you know, from coming out here and speaking up during public comments. So currently the city of Warrenville has 14 of those cameras right and some residents that we heard from this evening say it raises serious privacy concerns. You know how the data is stored, who has access to the data and what the data could potentially be used for. So a little bit about these cameras. They are automated license plate readers to capture images of vehicles as they pass. They can record a vehicle's license plate along with time and location that it was captured, creating a searchable record that can be accessed by law enforcement. Warrenville has used the flock license plate readers since 2000 and two and the City Council approved additional cameras in 2000 and 23. Now some residents are calling on the city to end the program altogether. They're raising concerns about how much information is being collected, who outside the city may have access to it and what they describe as a lack of transparency and oversight. If you vote for him again, I'll use everything in my power to make sure that you're voted out. And here's how I'm going to do it. I'm in a printing plant. I can, I can go with anybody who opposes you and I can blanket this town with signage, banners, print. I could put it everywhere. I can make sure that you lose. Just turn them off, put bags over him. We don't need them. These need to be taken down or we, the people will take them down. Yes, to watch men watch this. But who watches to watch men these cameras? And we did reach out to flock safety. This is the camera behind the company behind the cameras with several questions, obviously included, uh, who the has access to the data that's collected, who, uh, what exactly is being collected? And if there is a third party that could potentially access this information. But so far tonight, we have not received a response from that company. Anita, what about the council members there? The village leaders there? Did the city of Warrenville have anything to say? Or was this more of a listening session for them when it came to the people who were very upset in the video? Yeah, it was more of a listening session. To be honest, we weren't able to speak with anyone on city council directly tonight. But according to the city's, you know, public website, the Warrenville Police Department can access this data, right? The images when there's a missing or endangered person. Also, when a crime has been committed, however, they would not specify what kind of crimes. And as far as data being stored, according to the website, it's stored for 30 days and then deleted. And I will say, Anita, you know, this information is on the public city website. The residents that you just heard from, they know this, they understand this, but they are just not buying it. They, you know, don't feel like the city is being transparent enough. Yeah, I do remember that there was a crime committed very close to the Illinois Indiana border. It was a murder and the person got over the border and in Indiana, they were able to pick that person up very quickly with the flock camera. But there are also major privacy concerns there, as you heard from the residents. So it'll be interesting to see what happens as they move forward. Thank you, Leslie.