Police investigating after Flock license plate reader camera goes missing in Highland Park

File Photo – Flock ALPR Camera | Photo: Woo-Sung Shim / Lake and McHenry County Scanner Police are investigating after a Flock Safety automated license plate reader camera was stolen in Highland Park amid recent nationwide backlash against Flock over privacy concerns. The Highland Park Police Department made the discovery on August 7 involving its Flock camera located in front of Fidelity Investments, 1 Skokie Valley Road. The automated license plate reader (ALPR) was discovered missing from the pole mount, according to a police report obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Further investigation determined the camera was stolen by 'unknown person(s),' the report said. The last image captured on the camera was at 9:54 p.m. on July 31. The report said that an area canvass for security cameras that may have captured the theft was unsuccessful. The camera was located on the northeast corner of Lake Cook Road and Skokie Valley Road, where at least four other Flock cameras are in close proximity. The report said photographs of the camera mount and a few of the last photographs taken by the camera were entered into evidence. The camera itself was entered into a law enforcement database as stolen. It is believed to be the only camera stolen or damaged in Highland Park in at least the past year. The report said a critical reach alert was issued to police agencies throughout the Chicagoland area. The City of Highland Park said it uses the ALPR technology to help officers solve and prevent crimes in the community. The technology, provided through agreements with Flock Safety and Axon Enterprises, alerts officers when a camera detects a license plate linked to crime as the vehicle travels through Highland Park. 'State law, the City's internal policies, the City's agreements with these providers, and the providers' terms of use collectively provide for guardrails regarding the generation, storage, access, retention, and destruction of data collected and analyzed by ALPR technology,' the city said on its website. The theft comes amid a growing national backlash against Flock over privacy and surveillance concerns. More than 135,000 automated license plate reader cameras have been identified nationwide, and four of every five are made by Flock, according to crowdsourced data from the organization DeFlock. Cameras have been stolen or cut down in several states in recent weeks, including in Illinois in DuPage County. An audit by Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias found in August 2025 that Flock had allowed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to access Illinois cameras in violation of a 2023 state law, prompting the company to pause its pilot with federal agencies nationwide. Holiday Hills Police Chief William C. Copp, who also worked part-time in Prairie Grove, was charged in June with official misconduct after prosecutors in McHenry County said he used Flock hundreds of times to track former romantic partners and others he knew.