Two Flock security cameras sit directly at the entrance to Lake Forest Academy’s campus. One faces down Academy Road, facing into campus, and the other faces out towards the intersection with Kennedy Road.
Flock cameras, like the ones found at LFA, are automated license plate readers (ALPR). This means that they automatically collect license plate data on all passing vehicles, and store it in a database that can be accessed later by law enforcement to help track vehicles that are suspected of being linked to a crime. Head of School Tom Johnson said that the cameras only flag vehicles for the police, and they do not capture footage that can be reviewed by LFA. In addition to just capturing license plates, the cameras can also make note of car color, make, model, and even small physical details like dents and stickers. The cameras on Academy Road were some of the first batch of cameras installed by the City of Lake Forest.
The size of the Flock network is what makes the technology useful for police departments. According to Flock Security, there are over 100,000 cameras in place across the US, with the Chicagoland area being a particular hotspot. With so many cameras around, it is almost impossible for criminals to remain undetected after being reported, and law enforcement can use the collective data collected by all Flock cameras to form a more complete picture of the situation.
However, some students believe that the cameras pose significant privacy concerns to students and others at LFA. Misuse of data by police can allow tracking of any vehicle captured by the ALPRs, even if it was not involved in a crime. Haricharan Yarlagadda ‘27 is concerned about the potential for third-party groups accessing the data.
“Police can upload data to third-party software without any formal approval, so they can essentially do whatever they want with the data,” Yarlagadda said.
Specifically of concern to Yarlagadda is that the cameras, while not specifically looking to capture facial data, take pictures that include drivers’ faces. Police could then use third-party services outside of the control of Flock and LFA to analyze the photos and perform facial recognition. AI surveillance company VIZIDMO has recently pitched integrating its own facial recognition software to Flock’s massive network to the Johnson City, Tennessee Police Department, according to Cybernews. Flock has said that it does not plan on supporting facial recognition with its cameras, but this does not stop third parties from doing so.
Flock claims that their cameras are looking to “focus on the vehicle involved in the crime, not the person,” and that the data from their ALPRs is only related to the car, even when also capturing a person in frame. Information is deleted from the database after 30 days unless specifically requested for longer periods of time by law enforcement. However, none of this addresses Yarlagadda’s primary concern of data being misused by police and third parties like VIZIDMO.
Yarlagadda has petitioned at village meetings in his hometown of Wadsworth against the proliferation of Flock cameras there. “Doing this is the only way to get them legally and permanently removed,” he said. Yarlagadda encourages LFA students and community members to advocate for the removal of Flock cameras in their own neighborhoods.