Keep the money. Take the cameras.

That was the deal Elgin Community College offered Flock Safety after deciding it no longer wanted six of the company’s surveillance cameras on campus. Flock didn’t oblige.

The company maintained that it hadn’t violated its contract and denied the college’s request to remove the cameras. When administrators offered to pay the remainder of the contract in exchange for their removal, Flock’s response? Crickets.

So the college took matters into its own hands, covering the cameras with black trash bags and zip ties. Soon after, workers in unmarked vehicles showed up and removed the coverings. The college put the bags back up. Someone took them down again. The ludicrous back-and-forth continued until their contract expired.

The question, however, is if this was just about money, then why wouldn’t Flock take the deal?

Flock could have cashed in and walked away, and this story, in and of itself, is alarming. But the bigger question it raises is even more troubling.