Staff at Elgin Community College in Illinois resorted to wrapping surveillance cameras in black trash bags and zip ties after a security company refused to take them down. The unusual standoff began when college administrators decided they no longer wanted automated surveillance on their campus, leading to a quiet tug-of-war over who controlled the equipment.
The college originally had six Flock safety cameras installed in April 2025 to enhance student safety. By September of that year, however, school administrators grew concerned about data privacy and security. Officials worried that Flock was sharing data with Customs and Border Patrol, that camera feeds were not properly secured, and that both law enforcement and company employees might abuse access to the collected information.
In October 2025, the college formally asked Flock to remove the cameras. According to Elgin President Peggy Heinrich, Flock rejected the request, stating that it had not violated its contract. School officials reached out again in December, offering to pay for the remaining five months of the contract if the company would remove the devices early, but the offer was met with silence.
Determined to stop the cameras from recording, college staff began covering them with black trash bags fastened with zip ties. Soon after, workers in an unmarked vehicle—whom Heinrich assumed were from Flock—began arriving on campus to uncover them. "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."
The cycle of covering and uncovering the cameras continued until April 2026, when the college's contract finally expired and Flock took the cameras down.