ACLU raises privacy concerns over Flock cameras

Our Take

When a mainstream local newsroom hands the mic to the ACLU, it's a sign the Flock conversation is breaking out of activist circles and into the living rooms of everyday Chicagoans. Ed Yohnka's point is the one we keep hammering: these cameras don't just catch bad guys, they log everyone's movements, cops and civilians alike, into a searchable database that sticks around long after your plate rolled past the lens.

That's the real story here. It's not whether ALPRs can help solve a specific crime — sometimes they can. It's that a city council vote to add cameras on a few corridors quietly becomes a dragnet with no built-in sunset, no independent audit, and often no public hearing on retention limits or who else gets access to the data. Illinois has stronger privacy instincts than most states, which is exactly why segments like this matter: they force a conversation about guardrails before the network metastasizes, not after.

Chicago residents curious whether these cameras already ring their own block should check our camera map, and anyone who wants to push back on an unchecked rollout in their town can find concrete next steps at take action.