Lake Bluff Buys 8 Flock License Plate Cameras For 2 Years, $54,000

LAKE BLUFF, IL — Village trustees this month approved a plan to install eight new automated license plate readers around the perimeters of Lake Bluff.

The cost of the installing the solar-powered Flock Safety cameras is less than $7,000, but the annual fees will run the village $24,000 a year.

The village board discussed Flock's proposal at committee-of-the-whole meetings on Dec. 11 and Jan. 22 before voting 4-1 in favor of buying them.

The lone vote against it came from Trustee Taryn Fisher, who extensively questioned representatives of the Atlanta-based producer of automated license plate reader, or ALPR, cameras at the last committee meeting.

Fisher said modifications to contract ruling out the use of facial recognition technology and adjusting the contract's termination period were insufficient to win her support.

"I am wholly uncomfortable and I still don't see the cost-benefit analysis that makes sense to give away community privacy as a government body," Fisher said.

Trustees who voted in favor of the measure supported the idea of revisiting the use of the technology once it is implemented.

"I think it is healthy to be cautious, and to really revisit an issue that affects the privacy of our village," Village President Regis Charlot said after the vote.

Flock ALPRs are currently used by more than 360 law enforcement departments between Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, including the nearby communities of Lake Forest, North Chicago, Deerfield, Highland Park, Riverwoods, Waukegan, Zion.

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Clients of the company can choose with whom to authorize sharing of data from their towns, and most area departments share data between each other. The images are shared for 30 days unless otherwise needed in criminal investigations.

In addition to allowing police to search by license plate number, Flock cameras capture anything in motion, which allows police to search for vehicles by color or make or model.

For towns that do not implement Flock cameras in their own communities, the company recently began charging $45,000 for nationwide sharing access, according to police in Schaumburg.

In February, Lake Forest staff said the city currently has five Flock cameras in place, with another five due to be installed in the coming months, pending permits from state transportation officials.

The Lake County Board last month purchased bought the sheriff's office 15 more cameras from the company, which is valued at $4 billion and tells investors it covers about 70 percent of the population, according to a Forbes investigation.

Related: Number Of City-Leased Automated License Plate Readers In Lake Forest To Double