Naperville City Council rejects $8.3 million security camera expansion

The Naperville City Council on Tuesday rejected an $8.3 million project to replace roughly 200 aging city security cameras and add 270 more, demanding more information about how the cameras would be used, regulated, and why the expansion was needed.

The vote came as communities in the Chicago area and across the country grapple with questions about surveillance technology and documented misuse of some of that equipment by law enforcement.

Only two council members, Mayor Scott Wehrli and Councilman Ian Holzhauer, voted in favor of the project. Councilman Patrick Kelly was absent.

"We are in an environment of elevated public scrutiny over many of these technologies," Councilman Josh McBroom, who voted against the project, wrote on Facebook. "Some of that concern is based on misinformation, for sure. But there are also many very rational concerns."

The proposed project focused on replacing older security cameras the city already deploys while adding new ones as part of a broader system overhaul. It also would have replaced the city's 404 access readers and added 98 new ones, which are used to determine who can access a particular building or room.

According to Police Chief Jason Arres, many of the cameras the city uses are reaching the end of their life and need to be updated. Naperville operates 442 cameras across various locations and departments, including around water and electric utility facilities, the municipal center and Naper Settlement. The city has three main security systems, one for security cameras, one for traffic cameras and one for building access control, in place since 2013.

"Without replacement, this equipment will become increasingly unreliable," Arres said, adding that the project would consolidate the city's current systems to better protect employees and infrastructure and assist with criminal investigations.

As part of the proposal, 270 cameras were to be added in various areas to improve safety, including around Naper Settlement, in downtown parking decks and around the city's municipal center. The newer cameras would also carry an AI feature primarily used for police work. Arres offered an example: if a kidnapping occurred and a suspect was seen in a green pickup truck, officers could type "green pickup truck" into the system to search the cameras and pull up any matching vehicle that had passed through.

City policy would govern the logistics of how the cameras are used, including who can access video footage and when that footage is shared with other agencies. All video footage would be deleted after 30 days, except in certain legal situations. Access would be based on a city employee's department and responsibilities, camera use would be audited, and any misuse would carry consequences, including criminal charges where applicable.

"We are not asking the council or the public to simply trust that misuse will never occur," Arres said. "A responsible system should limit access, require a legitimate purpose, create an audit trail, and allow us to identify and address improper activity."

Still, some council members expressed concerns. Councilwoman Mary Gibson said the 60 additional cameras proposed for the municipal center seemed like a large request given the measures the city has already taken to make the building more secure.

"We now have a security guard here at night. We've limited public access to the building. So I would like to see more information about, you know, some of these locations and justification for where we're drawing this line," Gibson said. She added she would like to see the written policies for how the cameras will be used before signing off on the project.

McBroom voiced similar concerns in his Facebook post. "I just don't think the city has made its case yet," he wrote. "Putting an ask of this size and scale on our agenda for a vote, with really only five days of public vetting, was too much for me and apparently for most of my colleagues."

The decision arrives amid a wave of local scrutiny over surveillance equipment. Some Naperville Park Board members recently expressed concerns over a proposal that would allow Naperville police to access the park district's security cameras more easily. At a Will County Board meeting last month, some residents pushed back against allowing certain communities, including Naperville, to continue using Flock license plate reader cameras on county property. The license plate readers have come under scrutiny in instances where police officers have abused their access to the data.

After the council meeting, Arres said he believes the questions he was asked were fair and does not think this is the end of the road for the project.

"I know they all trust me. I know they all believe in me and believe in (the police department)," Arres said. "I think the fair point for us is to put a strong policy together, bring it back, show them that everything I said (at the meeting) is in writing."