A College Offered to Pay. Flock Kept Its Cameras Up Anyway.

Elgin Community College tried to remove six Flock Safety cameras over fears for immigrant students, but the company refused, keeping them installed until its contract expired. ^[1]

The Chicago-area college asked to cancel in October 2025. Flock rejected the request within a day, saying it had not breached the agreement. In December, the college offered to pay for the remaining five months if Flock would take the cameras down. ^[1][2]

"We never received a response back from Flock," said Peggy Heinrich, the college's president. Staff eventually covered the cameras with black trash bags secured by zip ties. Workers repeatedly removed the coverings, and the dispute lasted until April 2026, when Flock uninstalled the equipment. ^[1][2]

The episode shows how a surveillance purchase can outlast the buyer's willingness to use it. Flock retained ownership of the hardware on campus, making removal without its cooperation difficult. The college could ask to stop collecting data, and even offer to pay, without getting the cameras taken down. ^[1][2]

Heinrich said the six cameras, installed in April 2025, were meant to "enhance the safety and security of students." Within months, she had begun to fear they were doing the opposite. ^[1]

A safety purchase becomes a campus concern

Flock's automatic license plate readers use artificial intelligence to record passing vehicles' registrations, makes and models, along with distinguishing features such as dents and bumper stickers. The company markets the system as a way to find stolen cars and missing people. ^[1][2]

That same information can help investigators locate a vehicle associated with a person. Who can search the records therefore matters as much as where the camera stands.

Heinrich said reports that Flock data collected in Illinois had been shared with US Customs and Border Protection prompted her concerns. Then, on September 18, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained a student in a college parking lot. ^[1][2]

More than half of Elgin's students identify as Latino. Heinrich said enrollment dipped after the detention and students were afraid to attend class. For a college whose purpose is to bring people onto campus, that fear was a direct threat to its work. ^[1][2]

College staff audited Elgin's Flock data and found no evidence that federal immigration agents had accessed it, though the audit could not rule out searches through the wider network. Heinrich nevertheless wanted them removed "out of an abundance of caution for our students." The exact early-termination terms of Elgin's contract have not been published. ^[1][2]

The request went to Flock in October. The company's answer was that it had not broken the agreement, and it would not uninstall the cameras. The December offer to pay out the remaining term brought no response, according to Heinrich. ^[1][2]

Staff then reached for trash bags.

"We were kind of in a back and forth for a bit where we'd cover, and then when they'd come to service, they'd remove," Heinrich said. The workers arrived in an unmarked vehicle that she assumed belonged to Flock, though their affiliation was not established. ^[1][2]

Flock did not respond to WBEZ's request for comment on the dispute. Its stated reason for rejecting cancellation was that it had not breached the contract. ^[1][2]

Federal access had already happened elsewhere

Elgin's concerns arose amid documented federal access to Illinois camera records. The Illinois Secretary of State found that Customs and Border Protection had searched Illinois Flock data in violation of state law. An earlier audit concluded that the access put Flock "in direct violation of Illinois law." ^[2][6]

In August 2025, Flock chief executive Garrett Langley acknowledged limited pilot programs with Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations to fight human trafficking and fentanyl. He said "we clearly communicated poorly" and had failed to create distinct permissions to ensure federal users complied with local requirements. Flock said it paused all federal pilot projects that month. ^[5][6]

Flock's published timeline places its Customs and Border Protection pilot between May 9 and August 24, 2025, during Elgin's first months with the cameras. ^[3]

The company's current position is that it does not work with ICE, has no ICE contract and never independently shares or sells customer data. It says customers own their data and choose who can search it. Federal sharing is off by default, according to Flock, and since January 2026 agencies have been able to disable all federal sharing with one setting. ^[3][4]

Those controls leave local agencies with an important decision. Flock has said federal agencies, including ICE, can access local data if local law enforcement grants permission. Researchers reviewing search records also found thousands of searches by local and state officers with reasons such as "ICE," "immigration" and "ICE warrant," conducted on behalf of federal immigration enforcement. ^[1][5]

The next colleges face a choice

Public records obtained by surveillance researcher Torin Monahan and WBEZ show that Flock data from other Illinois public campuses was searched dozens of times last year in connection with immigration enforcement. In some cases, federal immigration authorities accessed campus data directly. ^[1][2]

Flock cameras remain at five of Illinois's 12 public universities and four community colleges. Students and educators are pressing college leaders to end the contracts. ^[1][2]

Joliet Junior College has seven cameras, and students must pass at least one on their way to class. Records show federal immigration agents directly accessed its camera data last year. College spokesperson Katie Smith said leaders and campus police review access and would take misuse seriously. ^[1][2]

Elgin's cameras are gone. Joliet's next contract decision comes in July 2027, when its agreement is up for renewal. ^[1][2]