QPD credits Flock cams for helping solve crimes but state audit questions data security

Our Take

Credit to KHQA for pulling this story together right as it matters most: Quincy's city council is about to decide whether 20 Flock cameras stay online, and the timing with a state audit questioning data security isn't a coincidence you should ignore. Police departments love to lead with the highlight reel — a kidnapping here, an arson suspect there — but they rarely volunteer what an audit from the Illinois Secretary of State's office might be finding about how that plate data is actually stored, accessed, and shared once it leaves the camera pole.

This is the pattern we track constantly: a network gets installed quietly, it racks up a few good arrest stories, and by the time anyone asks hard questions about retention windows, third-party access, or out-of-state data sharing, the system is already treated as indispensable. "Helping solve crimes all across the United States" sounds impressive until you realize it also means Quincy's camera data isn't staying in Quincy — it's flowing into a national network with its own rules, its own vendors, and its own blind spots for oversight.

Illinois residents who care about this should be watching what that audit actually says, not just what the police department says about it. If you want to see whether Flock or other ALPR systems are already watching your own commute, check our camera map, and if Quincy's vote has you wondering how to push back before your own city council does the same thing, our take-action guide is a good place to start.