A Sterling man concerned about how data from automated license plate readers could be used – and possibly shared – expressed his concerns Tuesday night to the Sterling City Council.

“It is a digital dragnet that never sleeps, even when humans aren’t behind the monitor at that exact second,” Jeff Gale, a 14-year Sterling resident, told the council during the meeting’s public comment portion.

Flock Safety operates the largest automated license plate reader system in the nation. The cameras are not 24-hour surveillance devices; instead, they are activated by motion as vehicles pass and capture images of license plates, registration information and the backs of vehicles.

Gale said he first noticed the cameras while driving his children to wrestling practice out of town.

“I pass at least eight Flock cameras going to and from practice. I then noticed that these cameras are installed in Sterling,” Gale said.

Gale said he attempted to get his own data from the city’s Flock cameras via a Freedom of Information Act request, but was told that would violate the Sterling Police Department’s agreement with Flock Safety, as well as SPD’s own policies and possibly state law.

“When law-abiding members of the public ask to see their own data, they are told that a private contract with an out-of-state private corporation overrides their right to know what the government is collecting on them,” Gale said.

He said he was told that his data could be released only if he was the victim of a crime, since that incident would have a police report and case number attached.

Gale expressed concerns that data gathered by Flock cameras in Sterling could be used by agencies other than the Sterling Police Department.

“This is an overreach of government surveillance that is not a good decision for our diverse community with a wide range of immigration statuses,” Gale said.

In August 2025, the founder and CEO of Flock Safety, Garrett Langley, announced that Flock Safety was putting a hold on pilot programs with the Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations over concerns raised by several states on how Flock Safety was sharing the images and data it collects.

At the time, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced that a state audit discovered DHS Customs and Border Protection had accessed Flock Safety data from Illinois, although Giannoulias did not say what data was accessed or whether the data was related to immigration enforcement.

[ As license plate readers expand in northern Illinois, privacy concerns and misuse claims grow ]

Gale said he was not attacking the Sterling Police Department or Chief Pat Bartel.

“The Sterling Police Department does a fantastic job. I work with them on a daily basis and have nothing but glowing things to say,” Gale said.

But, he said, he believes the public should have more information on how the Flock cameras and the data they collect are being handled.

“I quickly learned there was no meaningful conversation regarding these cameras being installed in Sterling and that they were just approved in the budget, and a grant was given for the cameras,” Gale said.

In May 2025, the city entered into a two-year contract with Flock Safety, based in Atlanta. The agreement was entered after the city approved the contract, for $36,000 a year, in its regular budget. Also that month, Bartel announced he received a $12,000 grant from the state of Illinois to help offset the cost of the contract with Flock Safety, bringing the city’s cost down to $24,000 for the 2025-26 budget year.

The agreement is for 18 cameras, of which 15 are automated license plate readers, and three are live, push-to-zoom cameras.

In a Jan. 14, 2026, memo to Sterling Mayor Diana Merdian, City Manager Scott Shumard and members of the City Council, Bartel addressed privacy and safety concerns regarding the use of the cameras and the data and images the cameras collect.

Bartel said none of the Sterling cameras are monitored constantly.

State law and Sterling Police Department policy prohibit the Sterling Police Department from sharing Flock data “with any federal, state or local agencies for the purposes of immigration enforcement or reproductive health care services,” Bartel said in the memo.

Bartel went on to share the instances where the Flock cameras have helped in apprehensions, including solving a kidnapping case and locating a suspect who was wanted in Texas for multiple shootings. He said Sterling PD has used the Flock data in several shots-fired cases, burglary cases, auto theft, driving-while-license-revoked and drug possession cases.

“They are tools to be used for an investigation,” Bartel said in the memo.

[ How police are using license plate readers to solve murders and find missing people in northern Illinois ]

Gale asked the council to take action to gather more information before continuing the use of Flock cameras.

“I am here today to ask you to immediately cancel any contracts with Flock Safety and create a city ordinance that no business, public or private, may utilize Flock Safety to track our citizens.

If you do not feel ready to make that decision, I ask the board: Was this ever presented to the public for a debate before the contract was signed? If not, I ask you to pause, inform the public of all the ways they are being tracked, listen to the concerns of your neighbors and immediately move to cancel this contract until a full hearing on surveillance ethics can be held, one where the citizens, not the vendor, define the ethics of their own surveillance,” Gale said.

The council took no action.