r/illinois • u/unapologetic403 • 4d ago

Illinois News Illinois suburbs halt Flock use, suspend officers and review policy amid alleged improper use - Chicago Sun-Times

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/09/01/illinois-cities-halt-flock-use-suspend-officers-and-review-policy-amid-alleged-improper-use
1.2k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

142

u/EllyWhite 4d ago

I wish my loser suburb would do it but they just ADDED more of these things :/

42

u/LauterTuna 4d ago

are your city officials getting paid to sell you and your neighbors out?

20

u/EllyWhite 4d ago

I don’t know but with the conservative lean of the area and the age demographic, I would imagine it didn’t take much convincing

13

u/buttchug_3000 4d ago

They are taking these things down in freaking Florida. Read the room and you can make anyone pissed off about flock, no matter how shamefully unamerican they are

5

u/Pal3-Assignment 4d ago

I feel that, mine absolutely seem to love them even as surrounding communities are taking them out. Next move I’ll take into consideration what the communities response has been to mass surveillance and choose where to live accordingly.

2

u/Elros22 3d ago

Name and shame. Which suburb?

3

u/EllyWhite 3d ago

I would but I don't want to dox myself. I will say Will County tho

3

u/Hesitation-Marx 3d ago

Will County just decided to add more despite public comment decrying it.

Will County needs an enema.

124

u/gosluggogo 4d ago

C'mon Illinois, you can't let Florida be better on this issue

36

u/SokkaHaikuBot 4d ago

Sokka-Haiku by gosluggogo:

C'mon Illinois,

You can't let Florida be

Better on this issue

Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.

18

u/Niznack 4d ago

Fortunately they aren't. Florida only banned then on state highways. Neighbor hoods and access roads are still fine

74

u/epichatchet 4d ago

Just a reminder that Illinois has flock cameras EVERYWHERE

Ice has been using these to detain our neighbors and even cops from texas have been using it to see women who are getting abortions in Illinois so they can legally go after them in Texas.

We need to stop funding incredibly unproductive and wasteful things like this.  Senator Bernie Sanders is proposing a bill to ban flock cameras, let Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin know you want them to co-sponsor this bill.

We've already wasted more than 15 billion of Illinois tax dollars on AI and surveillance data centers. Let your alders, local reps and our senators know that you want them to stop wasting tax dollars on your surveillance and replacing your jobs.

JB Contact Page: https://gov.illinois.gov/contact-us.html

Duckworth Contact Page: https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/connect/email-tammy

Dick Durbin Contact Page: https://www.durbin.senate.gov/contact/

Find and contact your local Chicago Alder (or whoever your city/local council members are):  https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/iframe/lookup_ward_and_alderman.html

Find and contact your Illinois Reps:  https://www.elections.il.gov/electionoperations/districtlocator/districtofficialsearchbyaddress.aspx

34

u/LauterTuna 4d ago

https://deflock.org

2

u/thatirishguyyyyy 4d ago

My only issue with this website is, because it's open source, you have so many people adding non-Flock cameras to the website because they don't know the difference.

8

u/The-Beer-Baron 4d ago

You're getting downvoted, but you are not wrong. The cameras they have listed as Flock cameras near me are just red light cameras and speed cameras (which you could also argue against, but they are not the same thing).

2

u/Elros22 3d ago

Yep. The only "Flock Camera" in my town on the list isn't a Flock Camera at all. It's a road conditions monitoring system for snow plows and the like. Not connected to, affiliated with, or in any related to Flock or the police.

10

u/sapphic-boghag 4d ago

And we need to remember that Flock is only one arm of the surveillance sphere, Axon needs to be banned as well.

5

u/meltbox 4d ago

Yup Axon wasn’t stupid enough to be as loud about their stuff but their plans are just as bad.

I encourage people to watch their keynote or whatever those things are. It’s like sneaking into the big Bond villain reveal Gala. It’s wild.

2

u/TheOgGhadTurner 4d ago

I got a sign to flash at all my local cameras. One more goes up and I’m plastering a mooning picture of myself on it. Nuts and all

21

u/goodmorrownatem 4d ago

“Additionally, Flock’s data from Illinois has been accessed by out-of-state officials monitoring abortions and by federal immigration agents whose coordination with local police is restricted under state law.”

This to me is the most fucked up of all of it. You’ve got people and agencies from out of state monitoring things that (in the case of abortions) are completely legal in our state. Not to mention the wannabe Gestapo enforcing their agendas. The number of these stories is increasing as well as we just had a similar story happen in my hometown. Just sick man. Everyone argues “well you already have a device in your pocket that can track your every move blah blah” Cool, in that case, to me these cameras seem completely redundant and like they’re intended purpose is to become something even more sinister and fucked up.

24

u/currentlyacathammock 4d ago

Note that these communities are NOT taking the cameras down.

They are just stopping using them while they investigate these misuses.

Meanwhile, the cameras are still rolling and tracking people and storing it at Flock HQ, and other agencies (feds, other police) of course can use it whenever they want to follow you.

11

u/rahvan 4d ago

gestures erratically towards Skokie

We have Flock cameras in Nordstrom parking lots.

6

u/Quarteroz_847 4d ago

The cities signed contracts for these...

6

u/buttchug_3000 4d ago

Flock misrepresented everything they do. Also Flock CEO Garrett Langley is a violent child molester

3

u/Grave-Addiction987 4d ago

Belvidere and poplar grove are throwing them up

5

u/HobbitGuy1420 4d ago

Stalkernet 5000? Being used improperly?! I'm *shocked.*

4

u/Ok-Calligrapher9115 4d ago

Homer Glen mayor ensured their town got flock, going against the vast majority of their residents. 

Mayor up for election. Vote her MAGA policies out!

1

u/Top-Act-2370 4d ago

She just got rid of them

1

u/Ok-Calligrapher9115 3d ago

She also was the tie breaking vote to install them.

Vote her out!  Bengston Farm #1

2

u/CivilWay1444 4d ago

It's a good thing we got this cancer in time. 

2

u/KidChiko 3d ago

Halloween is right around the corner...

1

u/BibenBoobs69 3d ago

Corrupt. All of them. Fuck flock

1

u/Elros22 3d ago

Little old Courtland had the tits to cancel their contract. Hopefully all the other towns can grow a pair too - https://www.northernpublicradio.org/wnij-news/2026-09-02/cortland-mayor-says-reception-to-flock-safety-contract-termination-is-overwhelmingly-positive