To protect immigrant students, a Chicago-area college told Flock to remove its cameras. The company refused.
“Elgin Community College staff notified Flock in October 2025 that they wanted to cancel their contract and have the cameras taken down. Within a day, Heinrich said, Flock rejected the request and refused to uninstall the equipment on the basis that the company had not breached their agreement.
College officials reached out again in December 2025 and said they would pay for the remaining five months of the contract — they just wanted the cameras taken down.
“We never received a response back from Flock,” Heinrich said.
That’s when things got weird. Heinrich said Elgin Community College staff began to cover the cameras using black trash bags and zip ties so that they would not be able to capture footage. But workers in an unmarked vehicle, which Heinrich assumed belonged to Flock, repeatedly removed the coverings.
“We were kind of in a back and forth for a bit where we’d cover, and then when they’d come to service, they’d remove,” Heinrich said. “Then we’d cover and then they’d remove.”
This strange dance continued, Heinrich said, until Elgin Community College’s contract with Flock expired in April this year and the company uninstalled the cameras for good.
Flock cameras can undermine efforts to make students feel welcome
But public records show Flock’s license plate readers are still installed at several other colleges across the state, including at five of the state’s 12 public universities and at four community colleges.”