The town council in Chesterton has voted to turn off all of the town’s Flock cameras and discontinue its contract with the company after a police officer resigned over the alleged misuse of the controversial system.
“Discontinuing Chesterton’s use of Flock does not mean that this technology can never be considered again,” said Council President Erin Collins. “It means that currently we are unwilling to continue its use until we have completed our review, strengthened our own safeguards and determine whether Flock is willing and able to provide the protections and accountability we believe our residents deserve.”
Collins said the review is going to take some time, going through the history of each user and deciding what changes are necessary.
“If Flock can implement stronger safeguards, if we are satisfied with our own internal user policies and review procedures, and if we can demonstrate to our residents that meaningful accountability exists surrounding its use, then the town council can publicly revisit the issue and determine whether resuming the technology is appropriate.”
She said it can be a valuable tool.
It recently helped with the capture of an Elgin murder suspect.
But, Collins said, “public safety and personal privacy do not have to be opposing ideas.
She finds a number of problems with the system.
“In order for us to evaluate what additional safeguards must be put in place before this for this technology is ever to be considered for use in our community again, there should be technological measures designed to either prevent unauthorized or inappropriate searches before they happen or flag them for supervisors in real time, not simply a record showing afterward that they occurred.”
Town of Chesterton release:
The Chesterton Town Council voted unanimously at its meeting Monday night, Sept. 14, to discontinue the Town of Chesterton’s contract with Flock Safety, following Police Chief Tim Richardson’s investigation this summer of a reported misuse of the Flock system by a CPD officer.
That officer has since resigned and Richardson has deactivated his officers’ access to Flock, with the exception of his own and his command staff’s for the purpose of conducting an internal audit of previous departmental use of the system.
President Erin Collins, D-2nd, broached the subject at the beginning of the Town Council’s meeting on Monday.
Collins’ statement in its entirety: “First, we want to acknowledge and thank Chief Richardson and his administration for acting quickly and decisively once this situation was brought to their attention. We appreciate that immediate action was taken and that this matter is being treated with the seriousness it deserves.
“We also believe it's important for the public to understand the timeline. The misuse we are discussing occurred in 2024 and 2025, before Chief Richardson took initiative to implement additional procedures and safeguards this year.
“The misuse came to light after these new procedures were put in place. Those procedures were implemented in an effort to provide greater oversight and accountability for the department's use of Flock, when Flock itself failed to put those safeguards in place.
“We believe that distinction matters, and Chief Richardson deserves all the credit for recognizing the need for stronger procedures and taking steps to address it.“At the same time, I believe I speak for the Town Council when I say that this incident raises broader questions about whether the safeguards surrounding technology this powerful go far enough. We need to ensure that a tool like Flock is being used appropriately, lawfully, and only for legitimate law enforcement purposes.
“Currently, the Town is completing an internal review of Flock usage within the Chesterton Police Department. We believe it is important that this review be completed so that we have a full understanding of how the system has been used.
“While that review is underway, Chief Richardson has already taken the appropriate step to deactivate all Flock Safety access, with the exception of the access necessary to complete the internal review. We also want the public to understand why completing this review takes time.
“This is not simply a matter of reviewing one account or running a single report. Due to the limitations in Flock's software, the administrative team must review every CPD Flock user individually, on a month-by-month basis. That is a detailed process, and it is important that it be done thoroughly and correctly. This is also in addition to all of their other duties in the department.
“I am going to ask the Town Council to consider discontinuing our contract with Flock as soon as the internal review can be completed, in order for us to evaluate what additional safeguards must be put in place before this technology is ever to be considered for use in our community again.
“There should be technological measures designed to either prevent unauthorized or inappropriate searches before they happen, or flag them for supervisors in real time—not simply a record showing afterwards that they occurred.
“Flock and any other company using this technology need to implement stronger access controls, meaningful supervisory oversight, required documentation for searches, and tools capable of quickly identifying unusual or potentially improper patterns of use
.“A system this powerful should not depend solely upon someone’s eventually discovering that it has been misused.
“While we believe Flock has a responsibility to improve its product and its safeguards, we recognize that the Town of Chesterton has a responsibility as well. The procedures Chief Richardson has already implemented are an important step. Moving forward those efforts should be strengthened through comprehensive internal policies, regular review procedures, supervisory controls, and standard operating procedures.
“Our goal should not simply be to determine after the fact whether misuse occurred. Our safeguards should be designed to prevent unauthorized use of these tools in the first place and to identify questionable activity as quickly as possible and prevent repeated misuse.
“We recognize that this technology can be a valuable law-enforcement tool and that it has been used to help investigate crimes and protect communities, including our own. But public safety and personal privacy do not have to be opposing ideas.
“If the government is going to have access to powerful surveillance technology, then the public has every right to expect equally powerful safeguards governing how that technology is used.
Discontinuing Chesterton's use of Flock does not mean that this technology can never be considered again. It means that we are unwilling to continue its use until we have completed our review, strengthened our own safeguards, and determined whether Flock is willing and able to provide the protections and accountability we believe our residents deserve.
“If Flock can implement stronger safeguards, if we are satisfied with our own internal user policies and review procedures, and if we can demonstrate to our residents that meaningful accountability exists surrounding its use, then the Town Council can publicly revisit the issue and determine whether resuming the technology is appropriate.
“We believe this is the responsible path forward for our community, our Police Department, and the residents we were elected to serve.
“For this Town Council, this is about finding the right balance between providing our Police Department with tools that help keep our community safe, and protecting the privacy, civil liberties, and trust of the people we serve. Our residents deserve both.
Collins then said that she would entertain a threefold motion: To discontinue the Town of Chesterton’s contract with Flock Safety effective Oct. 31 and to instruct Town Attorney Connor Nolan to inform Flock of the Town Council’s “serious concerns regarding the lack of guardrails on the technology and the meaningful steps that Flock must take before this Town Council will ever reconsider working with Flock again.”*To await the findings of Chief Richardson’s internal audit of previous departmental use of the Flock system.*And to endorse Chief Richardson’s deactivation of his officer’s access to the system, with the single exception of his command staff.
The motion was made and seconded and Member Jim Ton, R-1st, voiced his support for it. “I think a pause is called for at this point for the reasons that were given,” Ton said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that it will never be a useful tool again but there needs to be some sense. In that respect, I believe I see this more as a lack of personal judgment on the part of employees here and other places where this issue has risen. Poor judgment causes disruptions and they have to be addressed. So in this case, I think a pause is necessary.”
Collins then called for a voice vote on the motion, which was carried unanimously.
