Bartlett drops proposal to renew contract for over half their Flock cameras

The northwest suburb of Bartlett has dropped a proposal that would have renewed a contract for seven of the village's 15 Flock cameras.

According to a report in the Daily Herald, the village president cited a lack of broad support and concerns about flock's internal safeguard issues in declining to renew the contract. Instead, they'll simply let it expire.

The village's remaining eight cameras are split between two separate contracts. Officials there are still making a decision on what to do with those contracts.

Flock cameras have come under increased scrutiny recently over police officers accessing data for illegitimate purpose.

The Washington Post reported in early August on at least 46 instances of police officers accused of misusing Flock's license plate camera network for various reasons, including allegedly stalking women.

In the Chicago area, the village of Homer Glen announced it suspended the utilization of its Flock system pending an investigation by the Will County Sheriff's Office after a deputy was put on administrative leave for a allegedly misusing the system there.

Police officers in Channahon, Berekely, Holiday Hills, West Chicago and Joliet are also currently under investigation for allegedly misusing Flock systems and at, as are officers in Michigan City, Indiana.

In Kenosha, Wisconsin, a now-former sheriff's deputy was charged with using Flock cameras to track a fellow deputy he was dating.

In other parts of the Chicago area, municipalities are expanding their Flock usage. Harvey recently expanded their Flock contract to include drones, and the Will County board renewed contracts in suburbs including Mokena, Manhattan, Frankfort, Crete, Naperville and Wilmington.