https://evanstonroundtable.com/2025/09/24/flock-safety-reinstalls-evanston-cameras/ Stay in the know with our free newsletters! Join more than 10,000 Evanstonians already receiving the RoundTable newsletter in their inbox each morning. * [*] Daily Brief Keep abreast of Evanston's latest news and features with our free newsletter. * [*] Raising Evanston The RoundTable's free weekly newsletter featuring everything E-town for families. [ ] Sign up Already signed up? Just close out this popup. Or submit your email to keep this from displaying again on this device. Close * Sign In Search for: [ ] Search * CITY * SCHOOLS * ART & LIFE * PUBLIC SQUARE * RAISING EVANSTON * SPORTS * BUSINESS * FOOD * CALENDAR * NEWSLETTER * DONATE * About us * Jobs * Advertise * Mobile app * Submit a letter * Environment * Photos * Weddings * Obituaries * RT Merch * FAQ * Contact us * Facebook * Instagram * Twitter * BlueSky * RSS Close Skip to content * About us * Jobs * Advertise * Mobile app * Submit a letter * Environment * Photos * Weddings * Obituaries * RT Merch * FAQ * Contact us * Facebook * Instagram * Twitter * BlueSky * RSS Evanston RoundTable Evanston RoundTable Evanston's community newspaper since 1998 * Sign In Open Search Search for: [ ] Search Donate Menu Sign In * CITY * SCHOOLS * ART & LIFE * PUBLIC SQUARE * RAISING EVANSTON * SPORTS * BUSINESS * FOOD * CALENDAR * NEWSLETTER * DONATE Posted inCity News City sends cease-and-desist after Flock reinstalls license plate cameras The city sent a cease-and-desist to the company Tuesday and said 'Flock reinstalled the cameras without the city's permission' [cropped-er] by Alex Harrison September 24th, 2025September 25th, 2025 Share this: * Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook * Click to share on Nextdoor (Opens in new window) Nextdoor * Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X * Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky * Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn * Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email * Click to print (Opens in new window) Print * Sign up for our free newsletters to have Evanston news delivered directly to your inbox! * [*] Daily Brief Keep abreast of Evanston's latest news and features with our free newsletter. * [*] Raising Evanston The RoundTable's free weekly newsletter featuring everything E-town for families. [ ] Sign up --------------------------------------------------------------------- Private surveillance vendor Flock Safety reinstalled all of its stationary license plate cameras in Evanston that had previously been removed, apparently doing so without authorization from the city, which sent the company a cease-and-desist order Tuesday afternoon demanding that the cams be taken back down. The city previously ordered Flock to shut down 19 automated license plate readers (18 stationary and one flex camera that can be attached to a squad car) provided by the company and put its contract with Flock on a 30-day termination notice on Aug. 26. This decision came after Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias discovered that Flock had allowed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to access Illinois cameras in a "pilot program" against state law, and after the RoundTable reported in June that out-of-state law enforcement agencies were able to search Flock's data for assistance in immigration cases. previous coverage FOIA records reveal Evanston data accessible to out-of-state police making ICE searches FOIA records reveal Evanston data accessible to out-of-state police making ICE searches [cropp] by Alex Harrison June 16th, 2025August 28th, 2025 Council Bytes: EPD bars out-of-state agencies from plate reader network Council Bytes: EPD bars out-of-state agencies from plate reader network [cropp]Avatar photo by Alex Harrison and Emma Richman June 24th, 2025July 13th, 2025 Davis proposes 24-hour time limit for holding license plate camera data Davis proposes 24-hour time limit for holding license plate camera data [cropp] by Alex Harrison July 3rd, 2025July 3rd, 2025 Flock had removed 15 of the 18 stationary cameras by Sept. 8, only to reinstall each one at or near its prior location by Tuesday. City spokesperson Cynthia Vargas said in a written statement that the city has not deviated from or made any changes to its policies "since the earlier contract termination, meaning Flock reinstalled the cameras without the city's permission." "Recently, we became aware that Flock has reinstalled the physical cameras that they had previously taken down," Vargas wrote. "We immediately issued a cease-and-desist order to Flock. Earlier this afternoon, Flock committed to promptly removing the cameras." Flock did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the RoundTable on Tuesday night. The city first installed Flock cameras in late 2022 and early 2023 as part of two separate one-year contracts, and City Council later approved a single five-year contract extension in January 2024. The city has paid the first two years of that extension but would still owe $145,500 for the final three years if the contract is upheld. The city intends to terminate the contract on Sept. 26 under its notice to Flock, but the company is challenging that termination, and the dispute could escalate to litigation. Same spots, with some different models The RoundTable mapped and photographed each of the 18 stationary cameras in June, and site visits on Sept. 8 confirmed that all but three had been removed by Flock. The last three, which appear to have never been removed, are the north-facing cameras at Howard Street's intersections with Chicago, Ridge and Dodge avenues. Further site visits Tuesday confirmed that the 15 removed cameras had been replaced at the same locations. Most of them were banded back onto public streetlight fixtures where they were placed before, while five located on east-west streets along McCormick Boulevard had individual poles reinstalled into the ground. Near three of these pole mounts were freshly spray painted lines, the word "FLOCK" and numbers appearing to designate the cameras individually. A Reddit user posted a photo to the r/Evanston subreddit on Monday evening showing a worker installing one of these pole mounts and its camera earlier that morning at the corner of McCormick and Main Street. The worker is seen on a ladder holding the camera's solar panel in front of the pole mount, and behind them is an Enterprise-branded rental van parked on the sidewalk in front of the sign for the Skokie Northshore Channel Park. Although this camera and the one at McCormick and Oakton Street are installed outside of Evanston's city limits, they both fall under Evanston's contract with Flock, rather than Skokie's. [PXL_202509] [flock-inst] Click on the images in the gallery above to see them full screen. Additionally, not all of the reinstalled cameras were "Falcon" models -- the long, oval-shaped camera with a solar panel and battery packs that was previously used in every location. At five locations, there was instead a stubbier camera that looks similar to the "Standard" model currently advertised on Flock's website, except with an extra attachment under the main body. These five also appear to lack solar panels, instead attaching to several previously unseen boxes, and at least one camera is attached to a wire connected to the city-owned light post it's mounted to, suggesting it may draw power from the city's grid. [PXL_202509] [PXL_202509] Click on the images in the gallery above to see them full screen. Analysis: Flock's data suggests cams could be active Even before any cameras were initially removed, none of them were supposed to be collecting any data. The city wrote in its Aug. 26 announcement that the 19 cameras were "no longer collecting or providing license plate reader data to the Flock network," and EPD Cmdr. Scott Sophier reconfirmed this to the RoundTable on Sept. 8. "The last read on an Evanston Flock camera was logged shortly before 1:00 p.m. on August 26th, which is consistent with the City's request for de-activation," Sophier said at the time. However, Flock's own publicly available data suggests that may not be the case. The company maintains a "transparency portal" webpage for Evanston that updates daily with basic data on the cameras' operations, including "Number of LPR [license plate readers] and other cameras" and "Vehicles detected in the last 30 days." The RoundTable has tracked this page since shortly after the city's shutdown order, logging the data and archiving updates on most days. [Screenshot-2025-09-24-at-2]A screenshot shows the data listed on Flock's transparency portal for Evanston on Sept. 23, 2025. Credit: Flock Safety The "Number of LPR and other cameras" figure was at 19 when the shutdown was ordered, matching Evanston's 19 cameras, but it later dropped to 10 on Aug. 30. Rather than falling to zero, however, the figure stayed at 10 until Sept. 16, when it increased to 12, eventually returning to 19 on Sept. 23, matching the reinstallation of all the cameras. Meanwhile, the "Vehicles detected in the last 30 days" number has steadily decreased since the shutdown order, with each passing update rolling off another day when the cameras were known to be active. However, the figure has not decreased enough over time to actually reach zero once 30 days have passed. When the RoundTable began tracking this figure on Aug. 28, it stood at 439,542 vehicles detected over approximately 28 days of active cameras. To reach zero by 30 days post-shutdown, the figure would need to drop by an average of around 15,700 each day, because every new day added to the data should have included zero new vehicles detected. Based on the city's Aug. 26 termination notice, there should only be two full days' worth of vehicle detections left on Flock's data portal as of late Tuesday, Sept. 23. But the page still reports 155,507 vehicles detected in the last 30 days, yielding a reduction of 284,035 vehicles over 26 days, or around 10,924 per day -- well below the reduction rate needed to reach zero. This trend means that on Friday, Sept. 26, when more than 30 days will have passed since the city's cameras were supposed to be shut down, Flock will still report some number of vehicles as being detected in the prior 30 days. That suggests some number of cameras may have remained active and logging vehicles after Aug. 26, in violation of the city's order and without the city's knowledge, as indicated by Sophier's response to the RoundTable on Sept. 8. "Flock has not indicated to the City in direct communications that any ALPR's are active or have been re-activated," Sophier wrote. "There is no indication that Flock did not honor/fulfill the City's request and also no indication on the City's end to show any plate reads since the aforementioned date/time." Flock did not answer questions about this data sent by the RoundTable on Sept. 8. Site visits by the RoundTable that day confirmed that the 15 aforementioned cameras had been removed by that time. Update: The City of Evanston has covered up the Flock cameras while waiting for their removal. Support the RoundTable! As a financial supporter of the RoundTable, your contribution throughout the year powers our work covering all the vital news that matters in Evanston! Please consider making an additional gift! One-time Monthly Annually ( ) One-time ( ) $120 (*) $240 ( ) $480 ( ) Other Donation amount $ [ ] (*) Monthly ( ) $10 (*) $20 ( ) $40 ( ) Other Donation amount per month $ [ ] ( ) Annually ( ) $120 (*) $240 ( ) $480 ( ) Other Donation amount per year $ [ ] Your contribution is tax-deductible. We appreciate your support! Donate Now Support the RoundTable! Your commitment as a MONTHLY SUSTAINING DONOR helps us the most! Recurring contributions - at all levels - enable us to build a viable newsroom that will serve Evanston for the next 25 years! One-time Monthly Annually ( ) One-time ( ) $120 (*) $240 ( ) $480 ( ) Other Donation amount $ [ ] (*) Monthly ( ) $10 (*) $20 ( ) $40 ( ) Other Donation amount per month $ [ ] ( ) Annually ( ) $120 (*) $240 ( ) $480 ( ) Other Donation amount per year $ [ ] Your contribution is tax-deductible. We appreciate your support! Donate Now Related Stories Tagged: Evanston Police Department, Flock Safety, immigration and customs enforcement [cropped-er] Alex HarrisonReporter Alex Harrison reports on local government, public safety, housing and homelessness, town-gown relations and more for the RoundTable. He graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism... More by Alex Harrison Join the Conversation 7 Comments The RoundTable will try to post comments within a few hours, but there may be a longer delay at times. Comments containing mean-spirited, libelous or ad hominem attacks will not be posted. Your full name and email is required. We do not post anonymous comments. Your e-mail will not be posted. We do not publish comments that endorse political candidates, due to our nonprofit status. Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Comment * [ ] Name * [ ] Email * [ ] Website [ ] [ ] Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. [Post Comment] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] D[ ] 1. Avatar photoDavid R Coates says: September 25th, 2025 at 8:33 AM Very bold decision to circumvent or defy the city with regards to the monitoring cameras, outside agency interactions was probably never associated with the contract that was established. Foreseeable litigation to continue the contract, but not under conditions of outside agency access or interference. Reply 2. Avatar photoDebbie Dean says: September 25th, 2025 at 1:58 AM City or cities where Flock has reinstalled cameras in opposition to the cities wishes just shoukd have the camera lenses sprayed black or obscured with tape. That will work until Flock removes the cameras, as they were told to do. The fact that a private company sells ICE their client's information without the clients express permission is cause to break the city's contract. Reply 3. Avatar photoTodd Knapek says: September 24th, 2025 at 9:52 PM I love how Evanston is fine using the cameras to spy on its own citizens, but spying on illegals is over the line. It's so ridiculous. Reply 4. Avatar photoEzra Shevick says: September 24th, 2025 at 9:52 PM That electrical work looks like it is Not Up To Code. Reply 5. Avatar photoJulie Cowan says: September 24th, 2025 at 9:52 PM It is appalling and terrifying, You can find the Flock cameras near you by going to this site: https://deflock.me/ Reply 6. Avatar photoChana Bursztyn says: September 24th, 2025 at 4:02 PM I got a little lost in all the details, but from what I can tell, Evanston is headed for another lawsuit. Either that or pay out $145,500 for the remainder of the contract with Flock. A game of chicken with Flock that I guess comes down to which is the better choice financially for Evanston.. Reply 7. Avatar photoDavid Beazley says: September 24th, 2025 at 5:49 AM According to the Illinois Department of Transportation (https:// www.gettingaroundillinois.com/Traffic%20Counts/index.html), the annual average daily traffic count for Ridge/Howard is 14100 vehicles per day. Assuming that a north-facing camera would only catch half of that, that one camera alone would be expected to produce about 210000 scans in a month! The IDOT figures for Chicago/Howard are 12400 vehicles/day. For Dodge/Howard it's 10800 vehicles/day. So, the figures reported by Flock are certainly plausible even if only one camera remains active at any of those locations. Reply Latest News * Fifth annual Fiesta Hispana celebrates diversity, cultural heritage and unity September 26th, 2025 * Evanston Police Department to host catalytic converter anti-theft marking event Oct. 11 September 26th, 2025 * Latest from Evanston: Your Friday newsletter September 26th, 2025 * More trucks: Here's how NU softball field construction may affect local traffic September 26th, 2025 * Tear-gassed retired Evanston Marine, subject of viral photo, will return to anti-ICE protest Friday September 25th, 2025 Trending * City sends cease-and-desist after Flock reinstalls license plate cameras City sends cease-and-desist after Flock reinstalls license plate cameras * City covers Flock cameras while waiting for removal City covers Flock cameras while waiting for removal * Land Use panel says no to Popeyes Land Use panel says no to Popeyes * Heartwood founder requests police presence at hearing on Popeyes Heartwood founder requests police presence at hearing on Popeyes * Tear-gassed retired Evanston Marine, subject of viral photo, will return to anti-ICE protest Friday Tear-gassed retired Evanston Marine, subject of viral photo, will return to anti-ICE protest Friday * Biss picks new names for Finance and Budget, after incumbent asks 'too late' for second term Biss picks new names for Finance and Budget, after incumbent asks 'too late' for second term * Deep dishing on Evanston restaurant news for early fall Deep dishing on Evanston restaurant news for early fall * District 65 school closure evaluations, explained District 65 school closure evaluations, explained * New Illinois COVID vaccine guidance breaks with federal government New Illinois COVID vaccine guidance breaks with federal government * Here in Evanston: Walking down the grocery aisles Here in Evanston: Walking down the grocery aisles Evanston RoundTable * Facebook * Instagram * Twitter * BlueSky * RSS * Home Page * City News * Schools * Art & Life * Public Square * Food and Dining * Sports * Obituaries * Podcasts and video * Reparations * Evanston History * Our mission * About us * Advisory Committee * Board of Directors * Diversity, equity and inclusion * Donate * Get the newsletter * Read us on your mobile device * Submit a letter to the editor * Advertise with us * Contact us * Evanston RoundTable privacy notice * Thank You to our 2024 RoundTable Donors! The Evanston RoundTable is the community's leading source of news about local government, schools, civic and artistic activities, and other important issues facing our city. We seek to foster civic engagement and empower people to address complex issues facing our diverse community, promoting a better understanding and appreciation of people of all races, ethnicities, and income levels. Evanston Roundtable 1514 Elmwood Avenue Suite 2 Evanston, Illinois 60201 847.864.7741 (c) 2025 Evanston RoundTable Media NFP Powered by Newspack Evanston RoundTable privacy notice Sign in Close Sign in with Google Or Enter the code sent to your email. Email address [ ] [ ] Enter your password [ ] Sign in by entering the code we sent to , or clicking the magic link in the email. Continue Resend code Email me a one-time code instead Forgot password Create an account Sign in to an existing account Go back Continue Set a password (optional) By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. categories tags Loading Comments... Write a Comment... [ ] Email (Required) [ ] Name (Required) [ ] Website [ ] [Post Comment] Complete your transaction Close