Article Abstract
- Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias alleged that Flock Security, a police tech firm, illegally shared knowledge with federal border enforcement. This escalates an ongoing battle between Giannoulias and the company.
- Flock officers admit they didn’t create sturdy sufficient compliance protocols, however they disagree with Giannoulias’ authorized conclusions.
- A whole lot of legislation enforcement companies exterior the state have entry to Flock knowledge from Flock license plate cameras and Illinois readers.
This abstract was written by the reporters and editors who labored on this story.
CHICAGO — An automated license plate reader firm utilized by lots of of police departments round Illinois broke state legislation by permitting federal border enforcement officers to entry Illinois license plate digital camera knowledge, in line with Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.
The corporate, Flock Security, was additionally allegedly utilized by out-of-state police earlier this 12 months to look for a girl who lately had an abortion. That state of affairs sparked the secretary of state’s workplace to audit Flock.
License plate readers are cameras which may routinely detect the license plate, make, mannequin and different particulars of vehicles whereas they’re driving. These particulars are logged and entered right into a database that may be searched and shared between legislation enforcement companies, governments and personal corporations.
A 2023 state legislation, which was backed by Giannoulias, prohibits operators of license plate readers from sharing the info they acquire for the aim of imposing immigration or abortion-related legal guidelines.
Giannoulias alleges that Flock gave U.S. Customs and Border Patrol entry to Illinois knowledge as a part of a pilot program. Flock additionally didn’t have any safeguards to forestall different out-of-state police from violating Illinois’ license plate reader legislation, in line with Giannoulias.
Learn extra: Illinois license plate cameras used illegally by out-of-state police, Giannoulias says
Giannoulias stated the corporate’s actions “put them in direct violation of Illinois legislation” in a video assertion Monday.
“We won’t tolerate any violations to our knowledge sharing and privateness legal guidelines,” Giannoulias stated. “Shifting ahead, we encourage native legislation enforcement to intently look at their relationship with Flock and be certain that their use of this know-how is compliant with the legislation.”
The legislation prohibiting this sort of knowledge sharing doesn’t include any particular penalties for violating it.
Giannoulias’ workplace instructed Capitol Information Illinois it’s “conducting an investigation” into the matter. The workplace has been in talks with the state’s lawyer basic, though it declined to explain specifics.
A minimum of one metropolis, Evanston, has deactivated its Flock cameras and begun the method of canceling its contract with the surveillance firm. In a statement, the town referred to as the state of affairs “deeply troubling.”
A spokesperson for Flock, in the meantime, stated that they have been unaware of any ongoing investigation and that the corporate disagreed with the secretary of state’s authorized assertions.
“We clearly communicated poorly,” Flock CEO Garrett Langley wrote in a blog post earlier this week. “We additionally didn’t create distinct permissions and protocols within the Flock system to make sure native compliance for federal company customers.”
In that assertion, Langley stated the corporate had paused all pilot packages with federal companies. Langley additionally stated he tasked the corporate’s prime lawyer with overseeing the rollout of latest compliance instruments.
Flock cameras’ prevalence
Flock doesn’t disclose its prospects, however a database based mostly on information studies and firm statements assembled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation discovered about 90 police departments in Illinois which can be confirmed to make use of Flock cameras.
Flock prospects can elect to share details about their system via pages hosted by the company that disclose what kinds of info is collected, what number of autos have been detected by their system and the way lengthy knowledge is saved.
Police departments can disclose what different legislation enforcement companies have entry to the info collected by their cameras. In Illinois, at the very least 27 police departments disclose info on this manner, together with 14 which checklist the opposite companies which have entry to their knowledge.
Greater than 461 police departments, prosecutors, dispatch companies, state universities, transit companies and railroads in Illinois had entry to Flock knowledge, in line with these disclosures. All the transparency studies have been up to date inside the previous week.
The lawyer basic’s workplace and Illinois State Police each have entry to Flock knowledge. ISP pays the corporate about $50,000 per year, in line with state data. The company can entry Flock’s knowledge for investigations however doesn’t function any Flock cameras and doesn’t share its personal knowledge with Flock, in line with an ISP spokesperson.
Whereas license plate reader cameras are ceaselessly related to Chicagoland — partially attributable to a major state-backed program in the region — downstate municipalities use them too. Flock transparency studies point out that the Champaign Police Division has 46 cameras. Regular has 51 license plate readers and different cameras, whereas Springfield has 135.
Out-of-state knowledge sharing
The 14 companies that disclose knowledge sharing additionally share info with 551 companies exterior the state, together with with legislation enforcement organizations in Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana and extra.
These out-of-state companies which have entry to Illinois license plate knowledge embody police departments, universities and state companies. The checklist of organizations additionally consists of the federal Normal Companies Administration Workplace of the Inspector Normal, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and a U.S. Air Power base, in line with Flock transparency studies.
State legislation requires that police departments and different license plate digital camera operators in Illinois get hold of a written declaration from all out-of-state legislation enforcement companies saying that they won’t use license plate reader knowledge to implement abortion restrictions or immigration enforcement.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan information service that distributes state authorities protection to lots of of stories retailers statewide. It’s funded primarily by the Illinois Press Basis and the Robert R. McCormick Basis.
