Two Joliet Police Employees Placed on Leave After Flock Safety Technology Misuse
A Joliet police officer and a public safety dispatcher have been placed on paid administrative leave after the department discovered alleged misuse of Flock Safety license plate reader technology. The matter has been referred to the City of Joliet Inspector General and the Illinois State Police.
JOLIET, Ill. -- Two members of the Joliet Police Department, a sworn officer and a public safety dispatcher, have been placed on paid administrative leave following the discovery of alleged misuse of Flock Safety technology, the department said.
Flock Safety operates an automated license plate reader network used by law enforcement to track vehicles in real time. The technology has drawn growing scrutiny across the Chicago suburbs after a series of internal investigations found officers using the system for personal purposes, including tracking ex-partners, former employers, and personal vehicles.
The Joliet Police Department said it placed both employees on paid administrative leave after learning of the alleged misuse. The department said it has referred the matter to the City of Joliet Inspector General for an independent investigation and also to the Illinois State Police for a separate review.
"We recognize the significant trust our community places in our personnel and the technology used to carry out our public safety responsibilities," the department said in a statement. "Maintaining that trust requires these resources to be used lawfully, appropriately, and only for authorized purposes."
The department added that it will limit further comment while the investigations remain open, in order to protect the integrity of the process.
Joliet is not the first Illinois agency to act over Flock misuse. An ABC7 Chicago I-Team investigation in August filed 130 public records requests with law enforcement agencies across Illinois and Indiana and found at least 10 examples of local agencies investigating their own officers for unauthorized use of Flock and other license plate reading technology.
Cases identified in that reporting include a Prairie Grove officer who searched the plates of ex-spouses and romantic partners hundreds of times, a Berkeley officer investigated for searching a former employer, and a Palos Park officer accused of searching his own personal vehicles. Officers in Itasca and Bloomingdale have also faced investigations, and three men in DuPage County have faced charges for allegedly stealing and vandalizing Flock cameras.
The Joliet Police Department said it is now reviewing and strengthening its policies governing the use of Flock Safety technology and will enact department-wide audits to reinforce appropriate use and accountability.
"Unfortunately, we have seen abuse of automated license plate readers for almost as long as they have existed," said Beryl Lipton of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Now that abuse can really take place at scale across state lines."
Flock Safety has said it released an audit assistance tool earlier this year that automatically flags suspicious searches to command staff. A Senate subcommittee led by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri also announced this week that it is opening an investigation into the company's data safeguards.
The Joliet investigation is expected to continue. No names of the involved employees were released by the department.