PEKIN (25News Now) – The Pekin City Council will decide whether to continue doing business with Flock Safety, the company that makes automated license plate reading cameras, and has been criticized recently for violating privacy rights.
On Monday night’s agenda, the council is being asked to forgo competitive bidding and renew the city’s annual contract with Flock for 54 cameras.
The cost is $173,900, funded by a multi-year State of Illinois grant to prevent carjackings and vehicle thefts.
“The Flock System has proven to be an invaluable tool to investigate serious crimes along with ongoing narcotics trafficking investigations within the City of Pekin, Police Chief Seth Ranney said in a report to the council.
Ranney is asking the council to waive the competitive bidding process because it would be costly and time-consuming for another company to install its own cameras. And, he said police would likely lose evidence because the department would not have access to information from all of the other communities that use the Flock system.
“The Flock system is the only system that allows for the utilization of a large network of cameras from our law enforcement partners locally and across the state,” Ranney said.
The company has been criticized for developing a technology that, if misused, can violate a person’s privacy rights. In one case, a North Carolina police officer is accused of using Flock cameras to track her boyfriend’s ex-wife.
Last year, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias raised privacy concerns after the company allegedly shared information from license plate reading cameras to federal border agents.
Flock Safety responded to the complaints by putting a hold on pilot programs with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection.
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