By Taylor Fleming and Howard Packowitz
PEKIN, Ill. (25 News) – The Pekin City Council is delaying action on whether to renew its contract with the maker of license plate reading cameras after some in the audience compared the technology to George Orwell’s classic novel 1984.
The council voted 6-0 Monday night to table the proposal for two weeks to gather more information and to allow absent member Karen Hohimer to weigh in.
Pekin Police have used the technology for three years, and they strongly favor renewing the contact with Flock Safety for 54 cameras. The $174,000 cost would be funded by a multi-year State of Illinois grant to prevent carjackings and vehicle thefts. This year’s funds, totaling $163,000, have been received by the city’s finance department.
Police Chief Seth Ranney said the Flock system is an “invaluable tool” to investigate serious crimes and combat narcotics trafficking.
“You know, it’s no secret we do have drugs in this community. We use it a lot to enforce the drug laws and to do our narcotics investigations. Our goal is to keep people from wanting to come to Pekin to sell narcotics,” he said.
Ranney said there were several cases in which the police used the cameras when they had no other information to go on, and he believes they might not have been solved otherwise.
However, several public commenters brought up alleged misuse of the cameras, some using the Orwellian reference as an example of too much government control.
“Why don’t we work with the police department and say, ok fine, we’re going to get rid of these…If there is an issue with stolen cars, ok what can we do to help you with that? If there is an issue with child trafficking, what can we do to help you with that? But let’s not do it in a way that surveils every single citizen in this town,” said Pekin resident Zoey Carter, who is running for city council.
Last year, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias raised privacy concerns after Flock allegedly shared information from license plate reading cameras to federal border agents.
The company responded to the complaints by putting a hold on pilot programs with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection.
In another case, a North Carolina police officer is accused of using Flock cameras to track her boyfriend’s ex-wife.
Chief Ranney wants the city to forgo a competitive bidding process because it would be time-consuming and costly for another company to install its own cameras. Plus, the department would not have access to information from many other communities using the Flock system.
The proposal was tabled until the city council’s next meeting on Monday, Aug. 24.
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