The Homer Glen Village Board voted 5-1 Wednesday to approve 12 license plate reader cameras at key access points throughout town.

The Flock camera system will cost $57,150 plus an annual subscription of $49,500, officials said. The cameras are used by police to locate cars that have been involved in criminal activity. They can also locate missing persons.

The Flock cameras read a vehicle’s license plate number and state information as well as its make, model and color. The cameras are not used for traffic tickets such as speeding or red-light violations, officials said.

Trustee Robert Schaller, a former police chief, said the cameras are a deterrent to crime and are a useful tool for law enforcement.

Despite the cameras coming under fire recently, Schaller said Illinois has strict guidelines in place to alleviate concerns over an invasion of privacy.

“Illinois has clear guardrails around how information can be used and shared, and locally we can go further to make our program even tighter by policy,” he said.

He said the license plate reader camera data should be limited to trained Will County sheriff’s police personnel only and require a valid law enforcement purpose for each search. While the data is typically destroyed after a month, Schaller suggested the village adopt a shorter retention period, such as seven days, before it is automatically purged unless the information is tied to an active police investigation.

Schaller said residents are already recorded in public everyday, from store and parking lot security cameras, doorbell cameras and apps on phones that collect location data.

“The difference is those systems are mostly private and spread out,” he said. “What matters here is the village adopts (license plate readers), we do it with clear written limits, transparency, auditing and short retention, so this stays narrowly focused on public safety, not broad monitoring.”

A handful of residents Wednesday said they were concerned about the Flock camera system.

Homer Glen resident Tim McGraw speaks out against Flock cameras at Wednesday’s Village Board meeting. (Michelle Mullins/for the Daily Southtown)

Some communities have recently deactivated their Flock cameras, and Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias this summer said an audit found Customs and Border Protection had accessed Illinois data. Flock Safety responded to Giannoulias’ request that its system reject searches that includes terms such as “abortion,” “immigration,” “ICE” or Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Resident Tim McGraw urged the board to deny the camera system.

“These are not simple license plate readers or red-light cameras,” he said. “They are AI-powered privately-owned surveillance systems. … They don’t just read plates. They track everything.”

McGraw said the license plate readers don’t prevent crime.

Homer Glen resident Heidi Pacella speaks out Wednesday against Flock cameras. (Michelle Mullins/for the Daily Southtown)

“This is mass surveillance and tracking done without a warrant or probable cause,” he said. “That matters because the Fourth Amendment protects us from unreasonable searches.”

Resident Heidi Pacella said Homer Glen has been consistently ranked one of the safest suburbs in Illinois and questioned why the cameras are needed.

Pacella said she was concerned about the data that the cameras collect. Other communities ended their contracts with Flock over concerns of vulnerabilities and limitations, she said.

“It’s equivalent to having a police officer stand on your block and take notes while you leave your driveway with your family,” Pacella said. “It’s an army collecting data about everybody, everywhere.”

Resident Lisa Mikołajczak, however, said she was supportive of the system.

“The Flock camera complements the hard work that our police officers provide for us,” she said.

Homer Glen resident Lisa Mikołajczak speaks in favor of Flock cameras at Wednesday’s Village Board meeting. (Michelle Mullins/for the Daily Southtown)

Trustee Rose Reynders said it is the board’s job to worry about the safety of residents and businesses, adding the village’s large commercial area with stores such as Home Depot, Menards and Meijer, can be targeted by criminals.

Trustee Curt Mason said the village’s surrounding municipalities use a license plate reader system, but the village is a black hole. While the village has been listed at the 7th safest community, crime does occur, and criminals have been caught thanks to other communities’ Flock cameras, he said.

“We are trying to protect our constituents,” he said. “We are trying to protect our neighbors, our friends.”

Trustee Mike Lepore cast the sole no vote against the camera system. He said the cameras are an overreach of government powers.

Residents voted against installing Flock cameras in an advisory referendum in 2023, Lepore said.

Kratom sales

The Village Board also voted to prohibit the sale of Kratom or synthetic Kratom products to minors.

Kratom is an herbal substance from Southeast Asia, but can act like an opioid at higher doses. The product is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, officials said.

Homer Glen joins suburbs such as Oak Lawn, Orland Park and Tinley Park that have also voted to ban the substance.

Some people use Kratom for pain management or to alleviate post traumatic stress disorder, Mason said. But it can be mixed with other chemicals to create an opioid-like effect and can be dangerous, he said.

Mason said the village also wants to prevent vape and tobacco shops from marketing the product to children.

Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/11/homer-glen-license-plate-cameras/