City of Berwyn suspends use of Flock cameras as mayor issues an executive order
The short version: Berwyn's mayor hit pause on Flock cameras after ABC7's I-Team started asking questions, proving public pressure and scrutiny can actually move the needle.
Our Take
Credit to ABC7 Chicago's I-Team for digging into Berwyn's Flock Safety deployment and apparently prompting enough discomfort that the mayor issued an executive order suspending the cameras. That's not a small thing — most of these systems get installed quietly through council votes or police department purchase orders with zero public debate, then just hum along collecting plate scans indefinitely. When a local newsroom's questions are enough to trigger a suspension, it tells you how thin the justification often is underneath the "it's just for public safety" pitch.
We don't know yet whether this is a real reckoning or a temporary pause until the news cycle moves on. Cities have a habit of quietly flipping cameras back on once attention fades, sometimes without ever answering the hard questions about retention windows, who has query access, or whether the system is actually solving crimes versus just building a database of everyone's movements. Berwyn residents and anyone watching this story should push for real transparency, not just a pause button.
If you're in Illinois or anywhere else wondering whether Flock is already watching your block, check our camera map, and if you want to push back on a deployment in your own city, our take-action page has concrete steps.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of ABC 7 Chicago, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.