RMnoFlock: Get Flock out of Rolling Meadows

Council, thank you for your service.

My message tonight is about TRUST. The trust of a city in its government. The trust of citizens in their elected officials. The trust of residents in their Police Department. 

Trust is difficult to earn and is the foundation of our safety.

City staff has told us repeatedly that the city’s use of Flock cameras follows the law.

In an email to residents on April 20 the City Manager said “when Illinois Secretary of State Giannoulias… showed improper utilization of Flock Camera information, [the city] immediately checked our records to ensure our cameras were not accessed for uses that are not permitted by State law”

The City Manager said in an email he assured our State Representative Nicolle Grasse “any utilization strictly adhered to the legally applicable uses for such equipment.”

And again at the July Council Meeting Sabo said “we do not share information with Federal Immigration”.

My understanding is that sensitive communities in Rolling Meadows have reached out asking for protection from crime and in response we’ve used Flock cameras ensuring them these cameras were not used for immigration.

However, recently received FOIA documents show the exact opposite appears to be the case. Your own records show CBP has accessed our cameras for reason codes associated with immigration enforcement, a use not permitted by state law. Here is the evidence. Your department screenshots from your own logs. Who is accountable?

If City Staff and their vendor can not be trusted to reliably tell the truth about how this technology is being used, no one in this city can feel safe. We can not trust this technology or this vendor and we question our own city staff. Now we turn to the council.

Now is the time for the council to right the wrong it initiated in 2023 when it approved ALPRs. Over 500 people have signed our petition. Cancel the Rolling Meadows Flock Contract and launch an investigation to get to the bottom of this so residents know who we may be able to trust again.

Thank you.

Original FOIA records: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EcLmNX5LGev4efp6QKf8BnG4kf3VZ9UO?usp=share_link