Unwelcoming Evanston

Evanston police are using surveillance weapons to help hunt down people seeking abortions1 and for their immigration status2. This is explicitly against Illinois state law3 and several Evanston ordinances.4

– TIMELINE –

December 2022 – The initial contract for ALPR weapons was never approved by city council or by any other form of meaningful consent by the community. Instead the cops purchased these surveillance weapons in December 2022 for an amount just 10 cents under the threshold where they would need city council’s approval. A few months later they purchased additional cameras for another contract 4 dollars under that threshold.

Did you know about these ALPR cameras?

January 2023 – In Flock offered a 5-year contract renewal at an amount that finally did require a rubber stamp by council. In the January 8th, 2024 City Council meeting5, Evanston cop Ryan Glew promised that the data from Flock Safety automatic license plate reader cameras “…cannot be used for out of state investigations of women coming through town for exercise of reproductive rights.” or “…in investigation of immigration status as well.” Investigations show that it was happening regardless.

June 2024 – Independent investigators discovered the use of this unwarranted surveillance data in violation of state and local laws. This is exactly what activists have warned about when these cameras went up. Now federal agencies are using data sharing to fill their databases to target community members if they are seeking an abortion or for immigration, and the list won’t stop there.

In the January 8th, 2024 City Council meeting Ryan Glew said “any vendor and the service they provide falls out of step with what we are trying to do as a community, then we terminate that relationship.”. Now is the time to terminate the contract and protect our community!

Councilmembers unanimously voted for this increased state surveillance and were aware of the issues all along.6 Why won’t councilmembers take swift action and enact their own laws?

The Chief of Police Schenita Stewart along with supervisors also knew and sent assurances to city council.7 So they knew all along and alerted no one?

While neighboring agencies have willingly provided public audit records from ALPR use, Evanston is resisting compliance to Illinois Freedom of Information Act law8 with the release of their surveillance use audits.9 There’s no transparency and no accountability.

We also saw the Evanston drone program funded by Homeland Security for “counter-terrorism efforts” used against people at rallies for Palestine910. This is a violation of another state law called the Freedom From Drone Surveillance Act (of which State Senator Daniel Biss was a sponsor).11 This indicates a pattern of lawlessness indicative of policing that we’ve seen time and time again.

Evanston cannot be a Welcoming City AND a Surveillance City.

How many people have been and/or will be harmed by the years of our data that Evanston police quietly collected?

It’s time to BAN ALL SURVEILLANCE in Evanston and we can start first with ALPR!

Meanwhile our investigation continues…

*We are now offering a surveillance webinar for trusted community members. Please reach out to schedule one.

– resources –
– footnotes –
  1. “A Texas Cop Searched License Plate Cameras Nationwide for a Woman Who Got an Abortion.”, Cox, Joseph 404 Media, 29 May 2025 ↩︎
  2. “ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows.”,Koebler, Jason 404 Media, 27 May 2025 ↩︎
  3. 625 ILCS 5/2-130 User of Automated License Plate Readers; Prohibitions. 1 Jan. 2025 ↩︎
  4. City of Evanston Code of Ordinances. Municode Library. Ordinance No. 17-O-25 “Welcoming City Ordinance”, Ordinance 43-O-25, “Health Data Protection Ordinance” ↩︎
  5. City of Evanston. “Evanston City Council Meeting 1-8-2024”  – YouTube. 8 Jan. 2024, ↩︎
  6. FOIA Request #25-1744: ALPR Emails to Councilmembers ↩︎
  7. Stewart, Schenita. Email. “…we conduct regular organizational and network audits, which I personally review.” 26 May 2025 ↩︎
  8. 5 ILCS 140/1 Freedom of Information Act ↩︎
  9. FOIA Requests #25-1578: Flock Safety ALPR Audits 2025 (Evanston Police Department) , #25-1704: ALPR Audit Reports Review by Chief of Police Schenita Stewart ↩︎
  10. FOIA Request #23-2812: Evanston Drone and Uav Acquisition, Policy, and Use ↩︎
  11. Illinois General Assembly . 725 ILCS 167/1. “Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act”, 1 Jan. 2014 ↩︎