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"slug": "get-the-flock-out-the-heated-debate-over-license-plate-readers",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock Safety’s license plate readers have become a flashpoint for a debate across the country. On one side: law enforcement and their supporters, who say the cameras reduce crime and improve public safety. On the other: residents and advocates worried about a creeping surveillance state and the myriad security issues Flock has already been exposed for.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Morgan talks to Bay Area reporters Roselyn Romero and Riley Cooke about the fight over Flock spreading throughout the region, what we still don’t know about how Flock’s data is used and how some residents are finding creative ways to push back.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC6560783367\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guests:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/author/roselyn-romero/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Roselyn Romero\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, public safety journalist at \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Oaklandside \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.paloaltoonline.com/author/rcookeembarcaderopublishing-com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Riley Cooke\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, reporter at \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Palo Alto Weekly \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Further Reading/Listening:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB0gr7Fh6lY\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We Hacked Flock Safety Cameras in under 30 Seconds \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Benn Jordan, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Youtube \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/palo-alto-license-plate-data-searched-by-hundreds-of-out-of-state-agencies/\">Palo Alto license plate data searched by hundreds of out-of-state agencies\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Riley Cooke, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>Palo Alto Weekly\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/05/28/flock-training-police-city-councils-webinar/\">Flock is quietly training Bay Area police to sway city leaders to buy surveillance tech\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Roselyn Romero, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>The Oaklandside \u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.404media.co/flock-exposed-its-ai-powered-cameras-to-the-internet-we-tracked-ourselves/\">Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Jason Koebler, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>\u003ci>404 Media\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://knock-la.com/does-flock-safety-keep-women-safe/\">Does Flock Safety Keep Women Safe?\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Jayme Kusyk, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>\u003ci>\u003ci>Knock LA\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://ij.org/police-have-reportedly-used-license-plate-readers-to-stalk-romantic-interests-at-least-14-times-in-recent-years/\">Police Have Reportedly Used License Plate Readers to Stalk Romantic Interests at Least 21 Times in Recent Years \u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>\u003ci>\u003ci> —\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Christopher Ingraham, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>\u003ci>\u003ci>Institute for Justice\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://prospect.org/2026/05/21/home-depot-lowes-downplay-customer-surveillance-threats-flock-cameras-immigration/\">Home Depot and Lowe’s Downplay Customer Surveillance Threats\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Whitney Curry Wimbish, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>\u003ci>\u003ci>\u003ci>The American Prospect\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.whro.org/business-growth/2026-01-20/flock-cameras-in-hampton-roads-surveil-black-communities-more-intensely-than-white-ones-cnu-study-says\">Flock cameras in Hampton Roads surveil Black communities more intensely than white ones, CNU study says\u003c/a> — Toby Cox, \u003ci>WHRO\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.404media.co/ice-taps-into-nationwide-ai-enabled-camera-network-data-shows/\">ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows\u003c/a> — Jason Koebler & Joseph Cox, \u003ci>404 Media\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/04/24/who-is-paint-bombing-oaklands-flock-cameras/\">Who is paint bombing Oakland’s Flock cameras?\u003c/a> — Eli Wolfe, \u003ci>The Oaklandside\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/across-the-us-people-are-dismantling\">Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras\u003c/a> — Brian Merchant, \u003ci>Blood In The Machine\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/sf-car-break-in-data-18639763.php\">Has S.F. cracked how to fix the car break-in crisis? Here’s what is driving the decline\u003c/a> — Rachel Swan, \u003ci>San Francisco Chronicle \u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Want to give us feedback on the show? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\">CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Follow us on\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/closealltabspod/\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">TikTok\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bay Area Resident: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having Flock cameras will not keep us safe. These cameras will go up in the neighborhoods where people of color live and we can be damn sure that this information will be taken by the feds and shared with ICE. They do what they want. So don’t believe anybody who says this information is private and secure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In April, Bay Area residents crowded into the downtown Oakland Administration building. It was supposed to be a routine budget meeting for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. But it was unusually packed, thanks to one agenda item: approving a contract extension for Flock Safety cameras. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This would allow the controversial surveillance tech company to continue running its network of AI-powered license plate readers throughout the county — including unincorporated areas outside of cities like Oakland and Berkeley. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The contract expired last summer. If approved, the extension would buy another three months of Flock surveillance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The room was packed with residents, from Oakland to Castro Valley. Even more attended virtually to give comments. More than a hundred residents spoke during the meeting. Close All Tabs producer, Maya Cueva, was on the scene. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Narayan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Good evening. I urge you to reject Flock’s $854,000 contract extension. This isn’t a camera system, it’s a mass surveillance network that will track every single one of us, making a searchable database that tracks our movements. You guys say you care about immigrant communities, but this system puts them directly in danger. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock’s license plate readers have become a flashpoint for a debate across the country — not just in the Bay Area. On one side: law enforcement and their supporters, who say the cameras reduce crime and improve public safety. On the other: residents and advocates who are concerned about a creeping surveillance state, an erosion of the right to privacy, and the myriad security issues Flock has already been exposed for. Alameda County residents of all ages have been fighting against Flock in their neighborhoods for a while. And some aren’t even able to vote yet. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Narayan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi, my name’s Narayan. I’m 17. I go by he/him pronouns, and I’m from East Oakland. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kaylyn: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hello, my names Kaylyn. I’m 17 years old, and I live in Oakland. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tyson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My name is Tyson, I’m 18, he/him pronouns, and I live in Albany. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Narayan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m here to stop the implementation and extending of a Flock contract in my county. Flock is a multi-billion dollar corporation that is focused on hyper surveillance of people, and we’ve already seen that it is in the wrong hands. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Three years ago, Alameda County leaders approved a contract to install 100 plate readers throughout the county. Berkeley has just over 30, and Oakland recently approved a $2 million contract for nearly 300 more cameras in the city. Other residents have been speaking out about the issue for years now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Manny: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve been fighting Flock since 2023, but now it’s a lot more in the cultural zeitgeist. A lot of people have become a lot aware of the surveillance systems that are being used to surveil them, to watch and kidnap their community members. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ramesh Sridharan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We don’t want mass surveillance. We should be investing in communities. We should be spending our money on that as opposed to programs like Flock, which contribute to a surveillance state and have no evidence of actually reducing crime. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But some residents spoke in support of extending Flock’s contract. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robert Battinich: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was raised in San Leandro for 25 years. I own property in San Leandro and I’ve been robbed 24 times. Recently, they put Flock cameras in San Leandro, and it seems to be that they haven’t been breaking in. So, please vote “yes” on renewing the contract with the Flock cameras. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The board of supervisors kept calling for decorum when attendees clapped for anti-Flock speakers. So one resident used his allotted time to scold the board. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ralph Brown: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, it seems like a majority of you are just ready to reject the overwhelming majority of your residents who are telling you to vote “no” on this contract, not spend $300,000 plus more dollars to extend this contract and basically just say- tell us to go fuck ourselves, is what I’m hearing from you. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The meeting lasted hours — and after all that, the board of supervisors voted 3-2 in favor of extending the contract. Protests broke out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Protesters outside of budget meeting]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Get Flock off our block! Get Flock off our block! Get Flock off our block! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The backlash we’re seeing against Flock in Alameda County is part of a bigger nationwide fight against normalizing mass surveillance. Flock vandalism is up across the country. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @wwmtnews on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office says someone intentionally cut down a Flock license plate reader camera along D Avenue in Cooper Township. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @WHAS11News on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Auburn normally has 12 in the city, now they’re down two. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @tmj4 on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Take a close look at this automatic license plate reading camera, and you’ll notice gold paint covering the lens. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People have put stickers over the cameras’ lenses, covered them with trash bags, paintbombed entire devices, and joked online about pointing lasers at the cameras to destroy the sensors. In Oregon, someone cut down six poles holding Flock cameras, leaving a note that said, quote, “Hahaha get wrecked you surveilling fucks.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @KEZI9News on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No arrests have been made in either jurisdiction, but this is considered criminal mischief. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s local news station KEZI 9, which actually broadcasted the uncensored note. But aside from resorting to “criminal mischief,” how else are people fighting the installation of these cameras in their neighborhoods? Today, we’re digging into the heated debate around Flock cameras: what exactly they’re doing with your data and why this might matter more than you think. Ready? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is Close All Tabs. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist, and your chronically online friend, here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Let’s get into it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, have been rapidly rolled out by cities and communities around the country, with Flock Safety’s tech at the lead. Before we get any deeper into this, we need to talk about what Flock actually is — and how it was adopted so quickly. Let’s open a new tab: Why is Flock so controversial? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s get into the origin story. So, Flock Safety is based in Atlanta, Georgia. It operates a whole host of surveillance devices: cameras, drones, and, importantly, for this story, ALPRs. Back in 2017, this Georgia Tech alum, Garrett Langley, noticed the uptake in break-ins around his Atlanta neighborhood. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Police told him that grainy surveillance camera footage was actually unhelpful, and what they really needed to find perpetrators were license plates. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, Garrett called up two of his college buddies. Together, they worked on a prototype camera that could record and share what he called “evidence,” not just footage. Here he is speaking to Forbes last year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip of Garrett’s interview with @Forbes on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, it’s pretty wild. At the end of ’17, we were sitting at my dining room table in Atlanta, building cameras by hand. And now, today, we’re in a roughly 100,000 square foot facility building cameras, building trailers, building drones — all right here in Georgia, which is pretty fun. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Fun” is certainly one way to put it. This entrepreneurial, neighborly concern has grown into an operation of at least 90,000 cameras nationwide, scanning over 20 billion license plates per month. Over 1,000 private businesses have also installed the cameras, adding to Flock’s massive surveillance database. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Oakland, the push for installing Flock’s ALPRs was fueled by local frustration over BIP-ing — you know, breaking into a parked car and looting whatever’s inside. Here’s Roselyn Romero, a reporter for the independent local news outlet, The Oaklandside. She’s been covering Flock Safety cameras for the region. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BIP-ing, or car break-ins, were also understandably making a lot of residents angry. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The city took action around 2024. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Oakland Police Department eventually signed a contract with Flock Safety for cameras to be installed throughout the city, primarily on freeway entrances and exits. And right now, today, there are 293 Flock cameras in Oakland — specifically, automated license plate readers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock’s ALPRs go way further than the standard traffic cam that tickets drivers for speeding. The cameras automatically capture the license plate of every car that drives by — as well as 6 to 12 images of other identifying information. All of this is used to create what Flock calls: a vehicle fingerprint. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The make and the model of that vehicle, if there is a scrape on the bumper, or if there are bumper stickers on the car — Flock keeps a database of all of that information of every car that passes by the ALPRs. And that database can be used by the law enforcement agencies that contract with Flock to investigate crimes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock will send officers alerts when a camera captures a vehicle that’s been marked stolen or wanted. Or, the police can search the database to trace a specific vehicle’s movements across the country. Car break-ins in San Francisco have plummeted since 2023. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But whether Flock has any part in that is dubious. The city started cracking down on car break-ins long before it adopted Flock cameras. Still, supporters say that Flock is necessary to prevent crime and catch those who do it. Now, the company says its devices are not equipped to track individual people — but recent expansions have residents concerned. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock also has cameras that are called pan, tilt, and zoom cameras. Those cameras, which are currently being used by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, can be used to track pedestrians in addition to vehicles. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All of the data collected by Flock cameras around the country is shared and stored in a massive aggregated database, which can be accessed by anyone in the network. That means that police in Texas can hunt a woman who travels out of state for an abortion, or that ICE agents can ask local police in Illinois to track undocumented families. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Both of these scenarios are real. They’ve already happened. Privacy activists and civil liberties groups are especially worried. Given the Trump administration’s recent immigration crackdown. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People are scared — even putting Flock cameras aside, many immigrants are afraid of immigration enforcement knocking on their doors. We’re hearing a lot of newly arrived immigrants, refugee and asylum seekers, and other vulnerable populations say that they don’t even want to go outside anymore. They don’t even want to go grocery shopping or send their children to school because they’re afraid of ICE coming in and taking them away from their families. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’ve been seeing reports of law enforcement agencies and police departments in places outside of California that have shared data with Border Patrol, with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, and other federal law enforcement agencies that deal with deporting people. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so a lot of people are understandably afraid. And really concerned about, well, if this technology is continued here in Alameda County, who’s to say that that data is gonna end up in the wrong hands? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A big part of the concern is around data privacy. Flock says it deletes all the information after 30 days. But the company isn’t very transparent about how they handle all of this data. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There have been a lot of concerns from community members I’ve interviewed who say, you know, even if this data is stored in this database for 30 days, what happens after those 30 days? There have just been a whole host of concerns about the type of data that is stored, for how long it’s stored, and who has access to that data before and after it’s retained. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock also says all of this data, and their camera feeds, are encrypted. These assurances fall flat, though. Around the U.S., amateur hackers have been able to get around the company’s security systems. Tech YouTuber Benn Jordan explained how he did it in a video posted last year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @BennJordan on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You may remember me from this video, where I told you about 40,000 of these things that your tax dollars pay for that are tracking your every move and repurposing data collected about you every time that you drive past them. Upon further investigation, it turns out that there are over 80,000 of them — and, um, we got some, and we hacked them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With the help of a cybersecurity expert, Benn was able to hack Flock safety cameras in a whopping 30 seconds. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @BennJordan on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">First thing you’re going to want to do is go ahead and press the button to turn on that police camera. Then press the button on the back a number of times I can’t disclose in this video. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There she is: the Flock wireless access point. Go on and connect. Send a command to enable ADB. Connect. And now you can connect to the Flock Safety device and access its data. Or install whatever the hell you want on it. Have fun! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Apparently, hacking a Flock camera really is that easy. At least, it was when that video was published. And once you’re in, there’s a lot you can do. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @BennJordan on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can clone or decompile the apps. You could send the video stream data to a remote server. You could use it as a botnet client for malware. You could have it capture Wi-Fi handshake credentials and do middleman or honeypot attacks — or replace or modify captured footage or images. And if that is the case, this could bring into question the integrity of the data being used as admissible evidence in court, like, in general. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When these cameras can be hacked and used to spy on people or watch kids, watch everyday people, it really makes you think: how comfortable are we with this type of mass surveillance in our communities? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a follow-up video, Benn showed how easy it was to find the control panels for Flock’s cameras. 404 Media confirmed that at least 60 of Flock’s Condor cameras — the ones that can pan, zoom, and tilt — were left unsecured on the open internet. That means that the live streams and administrator panels could be accessed by anyone with the right link — no login credentials needed. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With the panels, anyone could download 30 days of archive footage, manually control the cameras, and run diagnostics. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, if Flock cameras can be easily hacked or are left totally unsecured, what does it mean for the troves of data? All the photos, the live feeds, the vehicle fingerprints that are stored on Flock’s cloud servers — how is this data being used, authorized or not? Who can access it? That’s a new tab: How is Flock being misused? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There have been a lot of red flags raised by privacy experts and technology experts who say that Flock doesn’t have enough data privacy safeguards to protect itself from liability, as well as protect community members who may be vulnerable to civil immigration enforcement, or enforcement as it relates to seeking abortions or reproductive health care in states where it’s illegal. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There have been reports of law enforcement using Flock data for both of these purposes — as well as more… personal uses. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’ve seen reports from other parts of the country where police officers have used Flock’s database to track down their ex-girlfriends and stalk them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A Wisconsin cop used Flock to stalk his ex-girlfriend and her partner. He submitted 179 database searches for their license plates. In fact, multiple officers have been accused of using Flock’s database to stalk romantic interests — there are at least 21 reported incidents of this in recent years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, even though we have Flock and law enforcement saying one thing about Flock cameras’ original intent and purpose, there’s always the potential for something to happen where this technology is used beyond its original intent. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that’s all assuming that technology is working correctly. What if Flock’s vehicle fingerprint is wrong? Just a few months ago, police stopped a 62-year-old woman in Oakland who was driving to her job at a nursing home. Flock had connected her plates to a “serious crime.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, she exited the vehicle with her hands up, her car registration was in her hand, and she saw these sheriff’s deputies pointing their guns at her — and she was really confused. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so, eventually the sheriff’s deputies told her, “Oh, you might not be the suspect we’re looking for because the license plate reader tracked down your license plate. And we essentially connected your license plate number to a crime that had been committed not that long ago.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What the woman didn’t know was that her plates had been stolen, and replaced with the ones associated with the crime. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She came to the realization, “I’m being treated like I’m a violent criminal.” That could have gone so much worse than it did, right? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But here’s the thing: Flock flagged a black Honda Civic. This woman drove a silver car. Flock’s “vehicle fingerprint” is supposed to be holistic, taking into account way more details about a car than just its license plates. Were these other details checked before officers made the stop? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It opens up this scary question of: can this happen to me? Can this happen to someone I love, someone I know — completely unsuspecting — who may have had their license plate stolen?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And here’s another issue with this technology: racial bias. Black and Brown communities are already more likely to be overpoliced and are disproportionately targeted for traffic stops. The existing bias is evident in Flock’s search records — law enforcement officials still use racist and derogatory language when they search through Flock’s ALPR database. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And as one study showed, Flock Safety cameras have been found to surveil predominantly Black communities more intensely than white ones. In Virginia’s Hampton Roads area, neighborhoods where at least 50% of residents are Black have four times the number of Flock cameras as majority-white neighborhoods. One of the highest concentrations of cameras is around the only HBCU in the area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In neighborhoods where Black and Brown people are already overly policed, overly surveilled, and overly criminalized, these cameras can play a big role in terms of the types of enforcement actions police take against these communities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And, the company has been long-resistant to efforts to track and log its devices, like in the case of a project called DeFlock. It’s an open-source, community-run tool that identifies and maps the locations of Flock’s cameras. Flock CEO and Co-Founder Garrett Langley is not a fan. Here he is speaking to Forbes again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip of Garrett’s interview with @Forbes on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unfortunately, there’s terroristic organizations like DeFlock, whose primary motivation is chaos. They are closer to Antifa than they are anything else. And that, I think, is unfortunate — because we don’t want chaos, or I don’t want chaos. I like law and order, I like a society that has a bedrock of safety. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That interview is from September of last year. A few months later, he sent an unsolicited email to all Flock law enforcement clients. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And in that email, the CEO attacked activist groups who were against Flock. He said that they wanted to normalize lawlessness and let murderers go free. The CEO also called these activists, quote, “terrorists.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This prompted the city of Staunton, Virginia, as well as several others, to officially terminate their contracts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And in a press release, the police chief of Staunton, Virginia, basically was like, “We will not tolerate this type of rhetoric.” They said, quote, “The city of Staunton wants to make it clear that the Flock Safety CEO’s narrative does not reflect the city’s values.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Langley’s comments also came amid intense debate over local police sharing Flock data with ICE, which is a violation of city policy in some places. Altogether, it was a PR disaster. As of March, at least 30 localities have canceled their contracts with Flock, or deactivated the ALPRs. The city of Dayton, Ohio is still deciding whether to turn off their cameras — so, while they deliberate, they covered them up with trash bags. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite all the vocal opposition, Flock has a lot of support from businesses looking to improve public safety around their buildings — whether it’s private companies trying to protect employees in downtown corporate offices, or mom-and-pop shops trying to protect their storefronts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock Safety cameras have been used by many business leaders and commercial districts throughout the Bay Area to address crime, prevent crime, track down people who may have broken into restaurants, vandalized businesses. So there’s just been a lot of support from large corporations, in addition to local business leaders, who argue that Flock cameras have actually been a really good thing for business, and for the safety of their employees, and customers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But residents are becoming more vocal about their distrust in Flock — in part, because it’s unclear who exactly has access to Flock’s data once it’s collected. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who’s to say that these law enforcement agencies from other states can also use data from California law enforcement agencies? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How far is this data being shared? Is Flock breaking local laws? One reporter in Palo Alto uncovered a slew of Flock search requests that violated the city’s own policies. We’re getting into that after this break. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But first, we wanted to remind you that Close All Tabs depends on listeners like you to keep us going. You can support us by becoming a member at donate dot kqed dot org slash podcasts. Okay. After the break, Flock’s data breach. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, we’re back. Let’s open a new tab: The Palo Alto Flock scandal. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People were just as fired up about a pickleball debate a couple of weeks ago in Palo Alto — so there are certain issues that definitely get people to turn out, whether it’s converting a pickleball court or, you know, cameras that are watching your every move when you’re moving about the city. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Riley Cooke is a City Hall reporter at Palo Alto Weekly. Earlier this year, a publication in nearby Mountain View had discovered that the city’s Flock data had been accessed by a slew of outside entities. Riley wanted to find out if the same thing was happening in Palo Alto. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So what I did is I filed a records request for these search audits that Flock and the police department maintain. So, every time a search is conducted, whether by a local officer or by an out-of-state agency, or outside agency at all into Palo Alto — that’s logged in a giant spreadsheet with the time, the date, and the reason for the search. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The request was approved, but at first, the police chief didn’t hand over the specific documents that Riley was looking for. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, I reopened the request and said, “Hey, I actually want these spreadsheets.” And eventually they gave them to me in March. And my editor was- he was out on some, like, coffee chat with a source, and so I was blowing up his texts, like, “We got the ALPR records, we’ve got them.” And it’s thousands and thousands of pages that detail every single search: the time, the date, who conducted it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The search records revealed that police departments from all over the country were also searching Palo Alto’s Flock data, without the permission of the city, or the Palo Alto Police Department. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The police department told me that they didn’t actually access any of the data or download it, but Palo Alto’s cameras still appeared in search results from, you know, Mississippi, Illinois — basically all 50 states, including some federal agencies, such as the ATF. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ATF is short for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Riley’s reporting shows that, for about a year and a half, tens of thousands of searches from outside agencies were performed in Palo Alto. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think my hope with doing that was to sort of beg the question of: what do these agencies have anything to do with Palo Alto? Or why is Palo Alto’s ALPR data appearing in search results by, you know, police departments from halfway across the country? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is actually super illegal. California law prohibits the sharing of ALPR data with out-of-state and federal agencies — and this has been the case since 2016. The Palo Alto Police Department told Riley that they didn’t know the city had been opted into the national lookup feature. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And, they went above and beyond existing California law about not sharing with any out-of-state or federal agencies. And, what my reporting shows is that Flock was still able to bypass those without telling anybody. They didn’t tell the police department, they didn’t tell city officials, they just quietly rolled out this nationwide data-sharing effort, which completely went past local and California regulations. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think city officials were really confident at first that they had enacted these protections, that they were protecting residents and heeding those surveillance concerns. And yet, at the end of the day, the company still did what they wanted to do. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It begs the question: why did Flock bypass the police department and make this data available nationwide? And what is the point of privacy protections if Flock can just access the data and share it anyway? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recently there’s been hundreds of people turning out to city government meetings to protest the Flock contract and urging Palo Alto to do what neighboring cities have done, which is to shut down the cameras or terminate their contract with Flock. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, thanks to Riley’s reporting, the Palo Alto Police Department is proactively sharing license plate search logs on its website. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, everyone’s able to go and find that information on their own, and can verify that no out-of-state or illegal searches are being performed. I don’t know any other city that’s currently doing that by practically publishing those, so I think that’s pretty cool. And Palo Alto is also auditing its Flock contract. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The consulting firm in charge of the Flock audit — called the OIR Group — has managed to hold Palo Alto’s cops accountable in the past — like standardizing bodycam usage. Will these data protections do anything, though? Riley says that residents are concerned that Flock could easily disregard them and go over the city again, like it did in Mountain View. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They don’t like that they were lied to. And so, I think a lot of residents had their suspicions about this, couldn’t exactly confirm that it was happening in Palo Alto, and my reporting was just — again, that confirmation that they were looking for. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Riley said the Palo Alto Police Department will probably listen to resident demands for greater transparency around Flock. But, even if the city gets rid of Flock cameras, law enforcement will likely still use ALPRs. If not Flock’s, then another company’s. There’s nationwide pushback against Flock — are these community efforts going anywhere though? Let’s open one last tab: can Flock be stopped? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re heading back to Alameda County, where Oakland is partnering with Flock to operate nearly 300 ALPRs throughout the city. But organizers remain committed to protesting the contracts. Roselyn Romero, the Oaklandside reporter from earlier, pointed out that Alameda County has a history of social movements. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Because of Alameda County’s location, situated where all of these technological and AI advancements are originated, and the fact that Alameda County is home to many social justice movements over the years — I’m thinking about the Black Panther Party in Oakland, right? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of these social justice movements, racial justice movements, and activists are also on the side of: we shouldn’t have Flock in our communities, and why are we continuing to expand these sorts of police technologies in our neighborhoods, when there are already so many community members who are vulnerable and afraid? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I think it speaks to this crucial moment in Alameda County of: everybody agrees that Flock Safety’s cameras are really powerful. It’s just- now, the debate is: what to use that power for, how comfortable we are with that power, and where we see our society going with this type of powerful tool in our communities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In California, organizers have actually made real progress in stopping Flock — or getting it removed. Santa Cruz was the first city to turn off its cameras. Mountain View, South Pasadena, El Cerrito, Campbell, Oxnard, and other California cities followed. And, like we talked about earlier, some residents have taken matters into their own hands. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Oakland, we’ve seen people paintbombing these Flock cameras, where cameras in Oakland have just been splashed with paint and vandalized, if you will. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And beyond the concerns about Flock’s capabilities, the company’s services are expensive. Flock contracts add up to millions of dollars. And this has many residents questioning how else this funding could be used. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When crime is at near historic lows, why are we continuing to put more money and more power into these powerful technologies? Right now, the Oakland City Council is debating its budget for the next fiscal year. And, we’re seeing all of these programs for violence prevention and for other community events being cut. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of community members are saying, “Why are we continuing to invest in police technologies and surveillance tools when we could instead allocate that money toward, say, health care or childhood education — early childhood education — more social programs for people who really need it during the summertime, or homelessness services?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s a really interesting and seemingly endless debate that we’re seeing in Oakland and Alameda County and across the country. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert: \u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[bangs gavel] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We have to take a vote on this. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Back in April, at the Alameda Board of Supervisors meeting, the board voted in favor of extending the Flock contract until July 1st. That’s despite the vocal pushback from residents. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Protesters outside of budget meeting]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Get Flock off our block! Get Flock off our block! Get Flock off our block! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last Tuesday — the day before the contract expired —the Alameda Board of Supervisors once again voted to extend Flock’s contract… This time, until the end of next year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So that motion passes. We’re not entertaining comments from the gallery. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once that’s up, the County Sheriff’s Office will have the opportunity to look for alternative vendors: surveillance tech companies that offer the same services as Flock. There are about a dozen or so competitors that could replace Flock cameras. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, even if the board votes to end its contract, this larger question still exists: Does mass surveillance of people who aren’t suspected of a crime violate their Fourth Amendment right to privacy? Is that worth giving up in the name of public safety? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This debate is not unique to the Bay Area. We’re seeing — at the federal level — President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda playing out in full force. What does that say about the type of surveillance, technology, and society that we want to have here in the Bay Area? What does that say about the types of companies and values we want to support and continue funding, not just at the national level, but even here, in our own communities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This debate gets at the heart of the right to privacy, guaranteed by the Constitution, but chipped away at every year. Communities across the country have made it clear that they oppose the partnerships between surveillance tech companies and the government. Will city leaders listen? Who knows? But paintbombing Flock cameras is a growing trend. And, as we’ve seen from other incidents across the country, people will find alternative — and creative —ways to make their anger heard. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s it for today’s deep dive. But, as usual, stick around after the credits for bonus content. And if you’re dying to open more tabs about Flock Safety and all of its controversies, check out our show notes. We have some further reading there. But for now, let’s close all these tabs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios, and it’s reported and hosted by me, Morgan Sung. This episode was produced and field-reported by Maya Cueva. It was edited by Chris Egusa, who also composed our theme song and credits music. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Close All Tabs team also includes editor Chris Hambrick and audio engineer, Brendan Willard. Additional music by APM. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Audience and engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts and Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor-in-Chief. Some members of the KQED Podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode’s keyboard sounds were submitted by Alex Tran and recorded on his white Epomaker Hi75 keyboard with Fogruaden red samurai keycaps and materon Milky yellow pro v2 switches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode includes clips from WWMT News, WHAS-11, TMJ4 News, KEZI 9, Benn Jordan, and Forbes. Special thanks to Rosalyn Romero and Riley Cooke, and everyone we spoke to at the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting. Thanks for listening! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the past couple of months, it’s mostly been organized demonstrations, and there’s been a sign that’s been going around that says, “GTFO: Get the Flock Out,” which I think is pretty funny. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "'Get The Flock Out': The Fight Over License-Plate Readers Heats Up | KQED",
"description": "Flock Safety’s license plate readers have become a flashpoint for a debate across the country. On one side: law enforcement and their supporters, who say the cameras reduce crime and improve public safety. On the other: residents and advocates worried about a creeping surveillance state and the myriad security issues Flock has already been exposed for. Morgan talks to Bay Area reporters Roselyn Romero and Riley Cooke about the fight over Flock spreading throughout the region, what we still don’t know about how Flock’s data is used and how some residents are finding creative ways to push back.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock Safety’s license plate readers have become a flashpoint for a debate across the country. On one side: law enforcement and their supporters, who say the cameras reduce crime and improve public safety. On the other: residents and advocates worried about a creeping surveillance state and the myriad security issues Flock has already been exposed for.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Morgan talks to Bay Area reporters Roselyn Romero and Riley Cooke about the fight over Flock spreading throughout the region, what we still don’t know about how Flock’s data is used and how some residents are finding creative ways to push back.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC6560783367\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guests:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/author/roselyn-romero/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Roselyn Romero\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, public safety journalist at \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Oaklandside \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.paloaltoonline.com/author/rcookeembarcaderopublishing-com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Riley Cooke\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, reporter at \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Palo Alto Weekly \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Further Reading/Listening:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB0gr7Fh6lY\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We Hacked Flock Safety Cameras in under 30 Seconds \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Benn Jordan, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Youtube \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/palo-alto-license-plate-data-searched-by-hundreds-of-out-of-state-agencies/\">Palo Alto license plate data searched by hundreds of out-of-state agencies\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Riley Cooke, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>Palo Alto Weekly\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/05/28/flock-training-police-city-councils-webinar/\">Flock is quietly training Bay Area police to sway city leaders to buy surveillance tech\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Roselyn Romero, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>The Oaklandside \u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.404media.co/flock-exposed-its-ai-powered-cameras-to-the-internet-we-tracked-ourselves/\">Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Jason Koebler, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>\u003ci>404 Media\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://knock-la.com/does-flock-safety-keep-women-safe/\">Does Flock Safety Keep Women Safe?\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Jayme Kusyk, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>\u003ci>\u003ci>Knock LA\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://ij.org/police-have-reportedly-used-license-plate-readers-to-stalk-romantic-interests-at-least-14-times-in-recent-years/\">Police Have Reportedly Used License Plate Readers to Stalk Romantic Interests at Least 21 Times in Recent Years \u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>\u003ci>\u003ci> —\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Christopher Ingraham, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>\u003ci>\u003ci>Institute for Justice\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://prospect.org/2026/05/21/home-depot-lowes-downplay-customer-surveillance-threats-flock-cameras-immigration/\">Home Depot and Lowe’s Downplay Customer Surveillance Threats\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Whitney Curry Wimbish, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>\u003ci>\u003ci>\u003ci>The American Prospect\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.whro.org/business-growth/2026-01-20/flock-cameras-in-hampton-roads-surveil-black-communities-more-intensely-than-white-ones-cnu-study-says\">Flock cameras in Hampton Roads surveil Black communities more intensely than white ones, CNU study says\u003c/a> — Toby Cox, \u003ci>WHRO\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.404media.co/ice-taps-into-nationwide-ai-enabled-camera-network-data-shows/\">ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows\u003c/a> — Jason Koebler & Joseph Cox, \u003ci>404 Media\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/04/24/who-is-paint-bombing-oaklands-flock-cameras/\">Who is paint bombing Oakland’s Flock cameras?\u003c/a> — Eli Wolfe, \u003ci>The Oaklandside\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/across-the-us-people-are-dismantling\">Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras\u003c/a> — Brian Merchant, \u003ci>Blood In The Machine\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/sf-car-break-in-data-18639763.php\">Has S.F. cracked how to fix the car break-in crisis? Here’s what is driving the decline\u003c/a> — Rachel Swan, \u003ci>San Francisco Chronicle \u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Want to give us feedback on the show? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\">CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Follow us on\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/closealltabspod/\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">TikTok\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bay Area Resident: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having Flock cameras will not keep us safe. These cameras will go up in the neighborhoods where people of color live and we can be damn sure that this information will be taken by the feds and shared with ICE. They do what they want. So don’t believe anybody who says this information is private and secure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In April, Bay Area residents crowded into the downtown Oakland Administration building. It was supposed to be a routine budget meeting for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. But it was unusually packed, thanks to one agenda item: approving a contract extension for Flock Safety cameras. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This would allow the controversial surveillance tech company to continue running its network of AI-powered license plate readers throughout the county — including unincorporated areas outside of cities like Oakland and Berkeley. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The contract expired last summer. If approved, the extension would buy another three months of Flock surveillance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The room was packed with residents, from Oakland to Castro Valley. Even more attended virtually to give comments. More than a hundred residents spoke during the meeting. Close All Tabs producer, Maya Cueva, was on the scene. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Narayan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Good evening. I urge you to reject Flock’s $854,000 contract extension. This isn’t a camera system, it’s a mass surveillance network that will track every single one of us, making a searchable database that tracks our movements. You guys say you care about immigrant communities, but this system puts them directly in danger. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock’s license plate readers have become a flashpoint for a debate across the country — not just in the Bay Area. On one side: law enforcement and their supporters, who say the cameras reduce crime and improve public safety. On the other: residents and advocates who are concerned about a creeping surveillance state, an erosion of the right to privacy, and the myriad security issues Flock has already been exposed for. Alameda County residents of all ages have been fighting against Flock in their neighborhoods for a while. And some aren’t even able to vote yet. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Narayan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi, my name’s Narayan. I’m 17. I go by he/him pronouns, and I’m from East Oakland. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kaylyn: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hello, my names Kaylyn. I’m 17 years old, and I live in Oakland. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tyson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My name is Tyson, I’m 18, he/him pronouns, and I live in Albany. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Narayan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m here to stop the implementation and extending of a Flock contract in my county. Flock is a multi-billion dollar corporation that is focused on hyper surveillance of people, and we’ve already seen that it is in the wrong hands. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Three years ago, Alameda County leaders approved a contract to install 100 plate readers throughout the county. Berkeley has just over 30, and Oakland recently approved a $2 million contract for nearly 300 more cameras in the city. Other residents have been speaking out about the issue for years now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Manny: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve been fighting Flock since 2023, but now it’s a lot more in the cultural zeitgeist. A lot of people have become a lot aware of the surveillance systems that are being used to surveil them, to watch and kidnap their community members. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ramesh Sridharan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We don’t want mass surveillance. We should be investing in communities. We should be spending our money on that as opposed to programs like Flock, which contribute to a surveillance state and have no evidence of actually reducing crime. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But some residents spoke in support of extending Flock’s contract. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robert Battinich: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was raised in San Leandro for 25 years. I own property in San Leandro and I’ve been robbed 24 times. Recently, they put Flock cameras in San Leandro, and it seems to be that they haven’t been breaking in. So, please vote “yes” on renewing the contract with the Flock cameras. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The board of supervisors kept calling for decorum when attendees clapped for anti-Flock speakers. So one resident used his allotted time to scold the board. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ralph Brown: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, it seems like a majority of you are just ready to reject the overwhelming majority of your residents who are telling you to vote “no” on this contract, not spend $300,000 plus more dollars to extend this contract and basically just say- tell us to go fuck ourselves, is what I’m hearing from you. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The meeting lasted hours — and after all that, the board of supervisors voted 3-2 in favor of extending the contract. Protests broke out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Protesters outside of budget meeting]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Get Flock off our block! Get Flock off our block! Get Flock off our block! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The backlash we’re seeing against Flock in Alameda County is part of a bigger nationwide fight against normalizing mass surveillance. Flock vandalism is up across the country. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @wwmtnews on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office says someone intentionally cut down a Flock license plate reader camera along D Avenue in Cooper Township. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @WHAS11News on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Auburn normally has 12 in the city, now they’re down two. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @tmj4 on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Take a close look at this automatic license plate reading camera, and you’ll notice gold paint covering the lens. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People have put stickers over the cameras’ lenses, covered them with trash bags, paintbombed entire devices, and joked online about pointing lasers at the cameras to destroy the sensors. In Oregon, someone cut down six poles holding Flock cameras, leaving a note that said, quote, “Hahaha get wrecked you surveilling fucks.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @KEZI9News on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No arrests have been made in either jurisdiction, but this is considered criminal mischief. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s local news station KEZI 9, which actually broadcasted the uncensored note. But aside from resorting to “criminal mischief,” how else are people fighting the installation of these cameras in their neighborhoods? Today, we’re digging into the heated debate around Flock cameras: what exactly they’re doing with your data and why this might matter more than you think. Ready? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is Close All Tabs. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist, and your chronically online friend, here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Let’s get into it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, have been rapidly rolled out by cities and communities around the country, with Flock Safety’s tech at the lead. Before we get any deeper into this, we need to talk about what Flock actually is — and how it was adopted so quickly. Let’s open a new tab: Why is Flock so controversial? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s get into the origin story. So, Flock Safety is based in Atlanta, Georgia. It operates a whole host of surveillance devices: cameras, drones, and, importantly, for this story, ALPRs. Back in 2017, this Georgia Tech alum, Garrett Langley, noticed the uptake in break-ins around his Atlanta neighborhood. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Police told him that grainy surveillance camera footage was actually unhelpful, and what they really needed to find perpetrators were license plates. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, Garrett called up two of his college buddies. Together, they worked on a prototype camera that could record and share what he called “evidence,” not just footage. Here he is speaking to Forbes last year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip of Garrett’s interview with @Forbes on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, it’s pretty wild. At the end of ’17, we were sitting at my dining room table in Atlanta, building cameras by hand. And now, today, we’re in a roughly 100,000 square foot facility building cameras, building trailers, building drones — all right here in Georgia, which is pretty fun. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Fun” is certainly one way to put it. This entrepreneurial, neighborly concern has grown into an operation of at least 90,000 cameras nationwide, scanning over 20 billion license plates per month. Over 1,000 private businesses have also installed the cameras, adding to Flock’s massive surveillance database. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Oakland, the push for installing Flock’s ALPRs was fueled by local frustration over BIP-ing — you know, breaking into a parked car and looting whatever’s inside. Here’s Roselyn Romero, a reporter for the independent local news outlet, The Oaklandside. She’s been covering Flock Safety cameras for the region. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BIP-ing, or car break-ins, were also understandably making a lot of residents angry. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The city took action around 2024. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Oakland Police Department eventually signed a contract with Flock Safety for cameras to be installed throughout the city, primarily on freeway entrances and exits. And right now, today, there are 293 Flock cameras in Oakland — specifically, automated license plate readers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock’s ALPRs go way further than the standard traffic cam that tickets drivers for speeding. The cameras automatically capture the license plate of every car that drives by — as well as 6 to 12 images of other identifying information. All of this is used to create what Flock calls: a vehicle fingerprint. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The make and the model of that vehicle, if there is a scrape on the bumper, or if there are bumper stickers on the car — Flock keeps a database of all of that information of every car that passes by the ALPRs. And that database can be used by the law enforcement agencies that contract with Flock to investigate crimes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock will send officers alerts when a camera captures a vehicle that’s been marked stolen or wanted. Or, the police can search the database to trace a specific vehicle’s movements across the country. Car break-ins in San Francisco have plummeted since 2023. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But whether Flock has any part in that is dubious. The city started cracking down on car break-ins long before it adopted Flock cameras. Still, supporters say that Flock is necessary to prevent crime and catch those who do it. Now, the company says its devices are not equipped to track individual people — but recent expansions have residents concerned. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock also has cameras that are called pan, tilt, and zoom cameras. Those cameras, which are currently being used by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, can be used to track pedestrians in addition to vehicles. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All of the data collected by Flock cameras around the country is shared and stored in a massive aggregated database, which can be accessed by anyone in the network. That means that police in Texas can hunt a woman who travels out of state for an abortion, or that ICE agents can ask local police in Illinois to track undocumented families. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Both of these scenarios are real. They’ve already happened. Privacy activists and civil liberties groups are especially worried. Given the Trump administration’s recent immigration crackdown. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People are scared — even putting Flock cameras aside, many immigrants are afraid of immigration enforcement knocking on their doors. We’re hearing a lot of newly arrived immigrants, refugee and asylum seekers, and other vulnerable populations say that they don’t even want to go outside anymore. They don’t even want to go grocery shopping or send their children to school because they’re afraid of ICE coming in and taking them away from their families. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’ve been seeing reports of law enforcement agencies and police departments in places outside of California that have shared data with Border Patrol, with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, and other federal law enforcement agencies that deal with deporting people. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so a lot of people are understandably afraid. And really concerned about, well, if this technology is continued here in Alameda County, who’s to say that that data is gonna end up in the wrong hands? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A big part of the concern is around data privacy. Flock says it deletes all the information after 30 days. But the company isn’t very transparent about how they handle all of this data. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There have been a lot of concerns from community members I’ve interviewed who say, you know, even if this data is stored in this database for 30 days, what happens after those 30 days? There have just been a whole host of concerns about the type of data that is stored, for how long it’s stored, and who has access to that data before and after it’s retained. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock also says all of this data, and their camera feeds, are encrypted. These assurances fall flat, though. Around the U.S., amateur hackers have been able to get around the company’s security systems. Tech YouTuber Benn Jordan explained how he did it in a video posted last year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @BennJordan on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You may remember me from this video, where I told you about 40,000 of these things that your tax dollars pay for that are tracking your every move and repurposing data collected about you every time that you drive past them. Upon further investigation, it turns out that there are over 80,000 of them — and, um, we got some, and we hacked them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With the help of a cybersecurity expert, Benn was able to hack Flock safety cameras in a whopping 30 seconds. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @BennJordan on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">First thing you’re going to want to do is go ahead and press the button to turn on that police camera. Then press the button on the back a number of times I can’t disclose in this video. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There she is: the Flock wireless access point. Go on and connect. Send a command to enable ADB. Connect. And now you can connect to the Flock Safety device and access its data. Or install whatever the hell you want on it. Have fun! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Apparently, hacking a Flock camera really is that easy. At least, it was when that video was published. And once you’re in, there’s a lot you can do. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip from @BennJordan on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can clone or decompile the apps. You could send the video stream data to a remote server. You could use it as a botnet client for malware. You could have it capture Wi-Fi handshake credentials and do middleman or honeypot attacks — or replace or modify captured footage or images. And if that is the case, this could bring into question the integrity of the data being used as admissible evidence in court, like, in general. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When these cameras can be hacked and used to spy on people or watch kids, watch everyday people, it really makes you think: how comfortable are we with this type of mass surveillance in our communities? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a follow-up video, Benn showed how easy it was to find the control panels for Flock’s cameras. 404 Media confirmed that at least 60 of Flock’s Condor cameras — the ones that can pan, zoom, and tilt — were left unsecured on the open internet. That means that the live streams and administrator panels could be accessed by anyone with the right link — no login credentials needed. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With the panels, anyone could download 30 days of archive footage, manually control the cameras, and run diagnostics. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, if Flock cameras can be easily hacked or are left totally unsecured, what does it mean for the troves of data? All the photos, the live feeds, the vehicle fingerprints that are stored on Flock’s cloud servers — how is this data being used, authorized or not? Who can access it? That’s a new tab: How is Flock being misused? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There have been a lot of red flags raised by privacy experts and technology experts who say that Flock doesn’t have enough data privacy safeguards to protect itself from liability, as well as protect community members who may be vulnerable to civil immigration enforcement, or enforcement as it relates to seeking abortions or reproductive health care in states where it’s illegal. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There have been reports of law enforcement using Flock data for both of these purposes — as well as more… personal uses. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’ve seen reports from other parts of the country where police officers have used Flock’s database to track down their ex-girlfriends and stalk them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A Wisconsin cop used Flock to stalk his ex-girlfriend and her partner. He submitted 179 database searches for their license plates. In fact, multiple officers have been accused of using Flock’s database to stalk romantic interests — there are at least 21 reported incidents of this in recent years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, even though we have Flock and law enforcement saying one thing about Flock cameras’ original intent and purpose, there’s always the potential for something to happen where this technology is used beyond its original intent. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that’s all assuming that technology is working correctly. What if Flock’s vehicle fingerprint is wrong? Just a few months ago, police stopped a 62-year-old woman in Oakland who was driving to her job at a nursing home. Flock had connected her plates to a “serious crime.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, she exited the vehicle with her hands up, her car registration was in her hand, and she saw these sheriff’s deputies pointing their guns at her — and she was really confused. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so, eventually the sheriff’s deputies told her, “Oh, you might not be the suspect we’re looking for because the license plate reader tracked down your license plate. And we essentially connected your license plate number to a crime that had been committed not that long ago.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What the woman didn’t know was that her plates had been stolen, and replaced with the ones associated with the crime. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She came to the realization, “I’m being treated like I’m a violent criminal.” That could have gone so much worse than it did, right? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But here’s the thing: Flock flagged a black Honda Civic. This woman drove a silver car. Flock’s “vehicle fingerprint” is supposed to be holistic, taking into account way more details about a car than just its license plates. Were these other details checked before officers made the stop? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It opens up this scary question of: can this happen to me? Can this happen to someone I love, someone I know — completely unsuspecting — who may have had their license plate stolen?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And here’s another issue with this technology: racial bias. Black and Brown communities are already more likely to be overpoliced and are disproportionately targeted for traffic stops. The existing bias is evident in Flock’s search records — law enforcement officials still use racist and derogatory language when they search through Flock’s ALPR database. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And as one study showed, Flock Safety cameras have been found to surveil predominantly Black communities more intensely than white ones. In Virginia’s Hampton Roads area, neighborhoods where at least 50% of residents are Black have four times the number of Flock cameras as majority-white neighborhoods. One of the highest concentrations of cameras is around the only HBCU in the area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In neighborhoods where Black and Brown people are already overly policed, overly surveilled, and overly criminalized, these cameras can play a big role in terms of the types of enforcement actions police take against these communities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And, the company has been long-resistant to efforts to track and log its devices, like in the case of a project called DeFlock. It’s an open-source, community-run tool that identifies and maps the locations of Flock’s cameras. Flock CEO and Co-Founder Garrett Langley is not a fan. Here he is speaking to Forbes again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Clip of Garrett’s interview with @Forbes on YouTube]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unfortunately, there’s terroristic organizations like DeFlock, whose primary motivation is chaos. They are closer to Antifa than they are anything else. And that, I think, is unfortunate — because we don’t want chaos, or I don’t want chaos. I like law and order, I like a society that has a bedrock of safety. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That interview is from September of last year. A few months later, he sent an unsolicited email to all Flock law enforcement clients. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And in that email, the CEO attacked activist groups who were against Flock. He said that they wanted to normalize lawlessness and let murderers go free. The CEO also called these activists, quote, “terrorists.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This prompted the city of Staunton, Virginia, as well as several others, to officially terminate their contracts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And in a press release, the police chief of Staunton, Virginia, basically was like, “We will not tolerate this type of rhetoric.” They said, quote, “The city of Staunton wants to make it clear that the Flock Safety CEO’s narrative does not reflect the city’s values.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Langley’s comments also came amid intense debate over local police sharing Flock data with ICE, which is a violation of city policy in some places. Altogether, it was a PR disaster. As of March, at least 30 localities have canceled their contracts with Flock, or deactivated the ALPRs. The city of Dayton, Ohio is still deciding whether to turn off their cameras — so, while they deliberate, they covered them up with trash bags. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite all the vocal opposition, Flock has a lot of support from businesses looking to improve public safety around their buildings — whether it’s private companies trying to protect employees in downtown corporate offices, or mom-and-pop shops trying to protect their storefronts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flock Safety cameras have been used by many business leaders and commercial districts throughout the Bay Area to address crime, prevent crime, track down people who may have broken into restaurants, vandalized businesses. So there’s just been a lot of support from large corporations, in addition to local business leaders, who argue that Flock cameras have actually been a really good thing for business, and for the safety of their employees, and customers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But residents are becoming more vocal about their distrust in Flock — in part, because it’s unclear who exactly has access to Flock’s data once it’s collected. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who’s to say that these law enforcement agencies from other states can also use data from California law enforcement agencies? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How far is this data being shared? Is Flock breaking local laws? One reporter in Palo Alto uncovered a slew of Flock search requests that violated the city’s own policies. We’re getting into that after this break. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But first, we wanted to remind you that Close All Tabs depends on listeners like you to keep us going. You can support us by becoming a member at donate dot kqed dot org slash podcasts. Okay. After the break, Flock’s data breach. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, we’re back. Let’s open a new tab: The Palo Alto Flock scandal. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People were just as fired up about a pickleball debate a couple of weeks ago in Palo Alto — so there are certain issues that definitely get people to turn out, whether it’s converting a pickleball court or, you know, cameras that are watching your every move when you’re moving about the city. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Riley Cooke is a City Hall reporter at Palo Alto Weekly. Earlier this year, a publication in nearby Mountain View had discovered that the city’s Flock data had been accessed by a slew of outside entities. Riley wanted to find out if the same thing was happening in Palo Alto. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So what I did is I filed a records request for these search audits that Flock and the police department maintain. So, every time a search is conducted, whether by a local officer or by an out-of-state agency, or outside agency at all into Palo Alto — that’s logged in a giant spreadsheet with the time, the date, and the reason for the search. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The request was approved, but at first, the police chief didn’t hand over the specific documents that Riley was looking for. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, I reopened the request and said, “Hey, I actually want these spreadsheets.” And eventually they gave them to me in March. And my editor was- he was out on some, like, coffee chat with a source, and so I was blowing up his texts, like, “We got the ALPR records, we’ve got them.” And it’s thousands and thousands of pages that detail every single search: the time, the date, who conducted it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The search records revealed that police departments from all over the country were also searching Palo Alto’s Flock data, without the permission of the city, or the Palo Alto Police Department. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The police department told me that they didn’t actually access any of the data or download it, but Palo Alto’s cameras still appeared in search results from, you know, Mississippi, Illinois — basically all 50 states, including some federal agencies, such as the ATF. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ATF is short for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Riley’s reporting shows that, for about a year and a half, tens of thousands of searches from outside agencies were performed in Palo Alto. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think my hope with doing that was to sort of beg the question of: what do these agencies have anything to do with Palo Alto? Or why is Palo Alto’s ALPR data appearing in search results by, you know, police departments from halfway across the country? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is actually super illegal. California law prohibits the sharing of ALPR data with out-of-state and federal agencies — and this has been the case since 2016. The Palo Alto Police Department told Riley that they didn’t know the city had been opted into the national lookup feature. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And, they went above and beyond existing California law about not sharing with any out-of-state or federal agencies. And, what my reporting shows is that Flock was still able to bypass those without telling anybody. They didn’t tell the police department, they didn’t tell city officials, they just quietly rolled out this nationwide data-sharing effort, which completely went past local and California regulations. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think city officials were really confident at first that they had enacted these protections, that they were protecting residents and heeding those surveillance concerns. And yet, at the end of the day, the company still did what they wanted to do. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It begs the question: why did Flock bypass the police department and make this data available nationwide? And what is the point of privacy protections if Flock can just access the data and share it anyway? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recently there’s been hundreds of people turning out to city government meetings to protest the Flock contract and urging Palo Alto to do what neighboring cities have done, which is to shut down the cameras or terminate their contract with Flock. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, thanks to Riley’s reporting, the Palo Alto Police Department is proactively sharing license plate search logs on its website. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, everyone’s able to go and find that information on their own, and can verify that no out-of-state or illegal searches are being performed. I don’t know any other city that’s currently doing that by practically publishing those, so I think that’s pretty cool. And Palo Alto is also auditing its Flock contract. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The consulting firm in charge of the Flock audit — called the OIR Group — has managed to hold Palo Alto’s cops accountable in the past — like standardizing bodycam usage. Will these data protections do anything, though? Riley says that residents are concerned that Flock could easily disregard them and go over the city again, like it did in Mountain View. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They don’t like that they were lied to. And so, I think a lot of residents had their suspicions about this, couldn’t exactly confirm that it was happening in Palo Alto, and my reporting was just — again, that confirmation that they were looking for. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Riley said the Palo Alto Police Department will probably listen to resident demands for greater transparency around Flock. But, even if the city gets rid of Flock cameras, law enforcement will likely still use ALPRs. If not Flock’s, then another company’s. There’s nationwide pushback against Flock — are these community efforts going anywhere though? Let’s open one last tab: can Flock be stopped? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re heading back to Alameda County, where Oakland is partnering with Flock to operate nearly 300 ALPRs throughout the city. But organizers remain committed to protesting the contracts. Roselyn Romero, the Oaklandside reporter from earlier, pointed out that Alameda County has a history of social movements. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Because of Alameda County’s location, situated where all of these technological and AI advancements are originated, and the fact that Alameda County is home to many social justice movements over the years — I’m thinking about the Black Panther Party in Oakland, right? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of these social justice movements, racial justice movements, and activists are also on the side of: we shouldn’t have Flock in our communities, and why are we continuing to expand these sorts of police technologies in our neighborhoods, when there are already so many community members who are vulnerable and afraid? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I think it speaks to this crucial moment in Alameda County of: everybody agrees that Flock Safety’s cameras are really powerful. It’s just- now, the debate is: what to use that power for, how comfortable we are with that power, and where we see our society going with this type of powerful tool in our communities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In California, organizers have actually made real progress in stopping Flock — or getting it removed. Santa Cruz was the first city to turn off its cameras. Mountain View, South Pasadena, El Cerrito, Campbell, Oxnard, and other California cities followed. And, like we talked about earlier, some residents have taken matters into their own hands. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Oakland, we’ve seen people paintbombing these Flock cameras, where cameras in Oakland have just been splashed with paint and vandalized, if you will. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And beyond the concerns about Flock’s capabilities, the company’s services are expensive. Flock contracts add up to millions of dollars. And this has many residents questioning how else this funding could be used. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When crime is at near historic lows, why are we continuing to put more money and more power into these powerful technologies? Right now, the Oakland City Council is debating its budget for the next fiscal year. And, we’re seeing all of these programs for violence prevention and for other community events being cut. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of community members are saying, “Why are we continuing to invest in police technologies and surveillance tools when we could instead allocate that money toward, say, health care or childhood education — early childhood education — more social programs for people who really need it during the summertime, or homelessness services?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s a really interesting and seemingly endless debate that we’re seeing in Oakland and Alameda County and across the country. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert: \u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[bangs gavel] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We have to take a vote on this. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Back in April, at the Alameda Board of Supervisors meeting, the board voted in favor of extending the Flock contract until July 1st. That’s despite the vocal pushback from residents. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[Protesters outside of budget meeting]: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Get Flock off our block! Get Flock off our block! Get Flock off our block! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last Tuesday — the day before the contract expired —the Alameda Board of Supervisors once again voted to extend Flock’s contract… This time, until the end of next year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So that motion passes. We’re not entertaining comments from the gallery. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once that’s up, the County Sheriff’s Office will have the opportunity to look for alternative vendors: surveillance tech companies that offer the same services as Flock. There are about a dozen or so competitors that could replace Flock cameras. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, even if the board votes to end its contract, this larger question still exists: Does mass surveillance of people who aren’t suspected of a crime violate their Fourth Amendment right to privacy? Is that worth giving up in the name of public safety? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Roselyn Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This debate is not unique to the Bay Area. We’re seeing — at the federal level — President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda playing out in full force. What does that say about the type of surveillance, technology, and society that we want to have here in the Bay Area? What does that say about the types of companies and values we want to support and continue funding, not just at the national level, but even here, in our own communities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This debate gets at the heart of the right to privacy, guaranteed by the Constitution, but chipped away at every year. Communities across the country have made it clear that they oppose the partnerships between surveillance tech companies and the government. Will city leaders listen? Who knows? But paintbombing Flock cameras is a growing trend. And, as we’ve seen from other incidents across the country, people will find alternative — and creative —ways to make their anger heard. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s it for today’s deep dive. But, as usual, stick around after the credits for bonus content. And if you’re dying to open more tabs about Flock Safety and all of its controversies, check out our show notes. We have some further reading there. But for now, let’s close all these tabs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios, and it’s reported and hosted by me, Morgan Sung. This episode was produced and field-reported by Maya Cueva. It was edited by Chris Egusa, who also composed our theme song and credits music. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Close All Tabs team also includes editor Chris Hambrick and audio engineer, Brendan Willard. Additional music by APM. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Audience and engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts and Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor-in-Chief. Some members of the KQED Podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode’s keyboard sounds were submitted by Alex Tran and recorded on his white Epomaker Hi75 keyboard with Fogruaden red samurai keycaps and materon Milky yellow pro v2 switches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode includes clips from WWMT News, WHAS-11, TMJ4 News, KEZI 9, Benn Jordan, and Forbes. Special thanks to Rosalyn Romero and Riley Cooke, and everyone we spoke to at the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting. Thanks for listening! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Riley Cooke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the past couple of months, it’s mostly been organized demonstrations, and there’s been a sign that’s been going around that says, “GTFO: Get the Flock Out,” which I think is pretty funny. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"title": "San Francisco Resident’s Surveillance ‘Walking Tour’ Maps Big Brother’s Expansion in the City",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> is a surveillance city — or at least, that’s how local writer Larry Kubin now sees it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He even worries that it might soon look like something out of a sci-fi show. Humanoid robots and things like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kubin toured the city in search of the same surveillance infrastructure technology that sparked\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080233/san-jose-residents-sue-city-saying-flock-safety-cameras-allow-mass-surveillance\"> a recent surge in criticism\u003c/a> over privacy concerns. He discovered around 700 San Francisco Police Department drone flights in February, a rundown of city-owned tech, and separate private cameras, all swarming amidst a push for even more surveillance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kubin has since published those findings in \u003ca href=\"https://www.foglinesf.com/p/a-walking-tour-of-surveillance-infrastructure-in-san-francisco\">\u003cem>The Fogline\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, an independent site he runs with his wife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just where trends are heading, and thinking about where to draw the line on what makes people safe versus where it starts to get a little invasive,” Kubin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kubin’s research included scrutiny of the around 400 Flock Safety automated license plate readers that SFPD uses. Police Chief Derrick Lew\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12088076/san-francisco-police-audit-shows-feds-accessed-license-plate-data-hundreds-of-times\"> said last week \u003c/a>that out-of-state and federal law enforcement agencies had “improperly” accessed the data, after the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center queried the system hundreds of times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The incident prompted SFPD to stop sharing Flock data with NCRIC and another agency, the Western States Information Network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088321\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088321\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/st-francis-wood.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/st-francis-wood.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/st-francis-wood-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flock Safety automated license plate readers in the St. Francis Wood neighborhood in San Francisco, California. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Larry Kubin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t the first of the city’s problems with Flock. In 2025, an investigation by \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/08/sfpd-flock-alpr-ice-data-sharing/\">\u003cem>The San Francisco Standard\u003c/em> \u003c/a>revealed that SFPD had allowed out-of-state agencies to search its system 1.6 million times, a possible violation of state law. Some SFPD personnel also appeared to make searches on behalf of federal agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area cities \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">Santa Cruz\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072077/as-california-cities-grow-wary-of-flock-safety-cameras-mountain-views-shuts-its-off\">Mountain View\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://ccpulse.org/2026/05/07/el-cerrito-becomes-first-in-county-to-drop-flock-after-unauthorized-searches/\">El Cerrito\u003c/a> and the town of Los Altos Hills have canceled Flock contracts over similar concerns surrounding improper data sharing, after each city discovered that their own data had been searched in similar ways. Santa Clara County also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074467/santa-clara-county-leaders-cut-out-flock-safety-in-new-surveillance-policy\">iced the company out\u003c/a>, and Berkeley council members \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082887/berkeley-extends-surveillance-contract-with-flock-safety-but-rejects-major-expansion\">last month approved \u003c/a>a contract extension, but not an expansion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock’s attention in the media, plus a 2019 look at Seattle’s surveillance infrastructure, was part of Kubin’s inspiration for the tour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to look more into that because my initial reaction was, like, ‘Oh, reading a license plate, that’s not so bad,’” Kubin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then he started spotting cameras in “postcard views” of the city and places where people relax. He said it feels like a much different world than the one he grew up in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We shouldn’t have to need this much technology,” Kubin said. “We shouldn’t need a police surveillance technology inventory that’s continuing to expand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088322\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088322\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/painted-ladies.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/painted-ladies.jpg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/painted-ladies-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A public safety camera, at right, on the same street as the Painted Ladies in San Francisco, California. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Larry Kubin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kubin partly blamed the city’s voter-approved Proposition E. The 2024 ballot measure gave SFPD the green light to roll out new surveillance technology for a full year without an official policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just picturing where we are now and whether it can become like a sci-fi TV show, right?” Kubin said. Kubin said that with the “new powers of things like Proposition E, the checks and balances are a bit looser.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents of the measure have defended it, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11977185/police-want-drones-in-car-chases-how-sfs-prop-e-could-affect-that\">with a former spokesperson for the Yes on E campaign saying \u003c/a>officers are “highly trained and should be trusted to make smart decisions” regarding the use of drones in high-speed chases.[aside postID=news_12067461 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02_qed.jpg']SFPD’s surveillance network has increased in recent years, opening its fully operational Real Time Investigation Center at its headquarters last year. Mayor Daniel Lurie touted it as an important resource in his efforts to keep the city safe and clean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The center houses a central hub that synthesizes real-time data from Flock cameras, drones and other public safety cameras. As of its reopening, the center helped make at least 800 arrests, \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/how-sfpds-new-investigation-center-is-catching-criminals-faster-using-400-cameras-drones/18247811/\">according to ABC7\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation is a critic of the center and its origin story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EFF said that these centers, which other cities like \u003ca href=\"https://www.sjpd.org/about-us/organization/bureau-of-investigations/real-time-intelligence-center\">San José\u003c/a> also have, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/09/san-francisco-gets-invasive-billionaire-bought-surveillance-hq\">are \u003c/a>“basically control rooms that pull together all feeds from a vast warrantless digital dragnet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFPD’s center was funded partly through Proposition E, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978236/propositions-e-and-f-in-san-francisco-appear-headed-for-victory\">later additional backing \u003c/a>from crypto billionaire and Ripple CEO Chris Larsen. Larsen, through Ripple and his nonprofit San Francisco Police Community Foundation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042515/sf-crypto-billionaire-wants-to-donate-millions-for-police-drones-surveillance-efforts\">gifted $9.4 million\u003c/a> to the new headquarters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Larsen’s support was another source of inspiration for Kubin’s deep dive into surveillance. He said that, while Larsen’s “crypto billionaire” title was not enough to upset him, his name had come up a lot in funding for increasing police technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kubin said that the introduction of each surveillance tool in isolation — Flock automated license plate reader cameras, drones, ShotSpotter technology and so on — might’ve made sense at the time for safety. But he worries that it will soon evolve into something else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that all those different modalities are coming together into this Real-Time Investigation Center, the whole of that is now greater than the sum of its parts,” Kubin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> is a surveillance city — or at least, that’s how local writer Larry Kubin now sees it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He even worries that it might soon look like something out of a sci-fi show. Humanoid robots and things like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kubin toured the city in search of the same surveillance infrastructure technology that sparked\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080233/san-jose-residents-sue-city-saying-flock-safety-cameras-allow-mass-surveillance\"> a recent surge in criticism\u003c/a> over privacy concerns. He discovered around 700 San Francisco Police Department drone flights in February, a rundown of city-owned tech, and separate private cameras, all swarming amidst a push for even more surveillance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kubin has since published those findings in \u003ca href=\"https://www.foglinesf.com/p/a-walking-tour-of-surveillance-infrastructure-in-san-francisco\">\u003cem>The Fogline\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, an independent site he runs with his wife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just where trends are heading, and thinking about where to draw the line on what makes people safe versus where it starts to get a little invasive,” Kubin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kubin’s research included scrutiny of the around 400 Flock Safety automated license plate readers that SFPD uses. Police Chief Derrick Lew\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12088076/san-francisco-police-audit-shows-feds-accessed-license-plate-data-hundreds-of-times\"> said last week \u003c/a>that out-of-state and federal law enforcement agencies had “improperly” accessed the data, after the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center queried the system hundreds of times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The incident prompted SFPD to stop sharing Flock data with NCRIC and another agency, the Western States Information Network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088321\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088321\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/st-francis-wood.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/st-francis-wood.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/st-francis-wood-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flock Safety automated license plate readers in the St. Francis Wood neighborhood in San Francisco, California. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Larry Kubin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t the first of the city’s problems with Flock. In 2025, an investigation by \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/08/sfpd-flock-alpr-ice-data-sharing/\">\u003cem>The San Francisco Standard\u003c/em> \u003c/a>revealed that SFPD had allowed out-of-state agencies to search its system 1.6 million times, a possible violation of state law. Some SFPD personnel also appeared to make searches on behalf of federal agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area cities \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">Santa Cruz\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072077/as-california-cities-grow-wary-of-flock-safety-cameras-mountain-views-shuts-its-off\">Mountain View\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://ccpulse.org/2026/05/07/el-cerrito-becomes-first-in-county-to-drop-flock-after-unauthorized-searches/\">El Cerrito\u003c/a> and the town of Los Altos Hills have canceled Flock contracts over similar concerns surrounding improper data sharing, after each city discovered that their own data had been searched in similar ways. Santa Clara County also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074467/santa-clara-county-leaders-cut-out-flock-safety-in-new-surveillance-policy\">iced the company out\u003c/a>, and Berkeley council members \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082887/berkeley-extends-surveillance-contract-with-flock-safety-but-rejects-major-expansion\">last month approved \u003c/a>a contract extension, but not an expansion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock’s attention in the media, plus a 2019 look at Seattle’s surveillance infrastructure, was part of Kubin’s inspiration for the tour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to look more into that because my initial reaction was, like, ‘Oh, reading a license plate, that’s not so bad,’” Kubin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then he started spotting cameras in “postcard views” of the city and places where people relax. He said it feels like a much different world than the one he grew up in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We shouldn’t have to need this much technology,” Kubin said. “We shouldn’t need a police surveillance technology inventory that’s continuing to expand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088322\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088322\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/painted-ladies.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/painted-ladies.jpg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/painted-ladies-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A public safety camera, at right, on the same street as the Painted Ladies in San Francisco, California. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Larry Kubin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kubin partly blamed the city’s voter-approved Proposition E. The 2024 ballot measure gave SFPD the green light to roll out new surveillance technology for a full year without an official policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just picturing where we are now and whether it can become like a sci-fi TV show, right?” Kubin said. Kubin said that with the “new powers of things like Proposition E, the checks and balances are a bit looser.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents of the measure have defended it, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11977185/police-want-drones-in-car-chases-how-sfs-prop-e-could-affect-that\">with a former spokesperson for the Yes on E campaign saying \u003c/a>officers are “highly trained and should be trusted to make smart decisions” regarding the use of drones in high-speed chases.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>SFPD’s surveillance network has increased in recent years, opening its fully operational Real Time Investigation Center at its headquarters last year. Mayor Daniel Lurie touted it as an important resource in his efforts to keep the city safe and clean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The center houses a central hub that synthesizes real-time data from Flock cameras, drones and other public safety cameras. As of its reopening, the center helped make at least 800 arrests, \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/how-sfpds-new-investigation-center-is-catching-criminals-faster-using-400-cameras-drones/18247811/\">according to ABC7\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation is a critic of the center and its origin story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EFF said that these centers, which other cities like \u003ca href=\"https://www.sjpd.org/about-us/organization/bureau-of-investigations/real-time-intelligence-center\">San José\u003c/a> also have, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/09/san-francisco-gets-invasive-billionaire-bought-surveillance-hq\">are \u003c/a>“basically control rooms that pull together all feeds from a vast warrantless digital dragnet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFPD’s center was funded partly through Proposition E, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978236/propositions-e-and-f-in-san-francisco-appear-headed-for-victory\">later additional backing \u003c/a>from crypto billionaire and Ripple CEO Chris Larsen. Larsen, through Ripple and his nonprofit San Francisco Police Community Foundation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042515/sf-crypto-billionaire-wants-to-donate-millions-for-police-drones-surveillance-efforts\">gifted $9.4 million\u003c/a> to the new headquarters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Larsen’s support was another source of inspiration for Kubin’s deep dive into surveillance. He said that, while Larsen’s “crypto billionaire” title was not enough to upset him, his name had come up a lot in funding for increasing police technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kubin said that the introduction of each surveillance tool in isolation — Flock automated license plate reader cameras, drones, ShotSpotter technology and so on — might’ve made sense at the time for safety. But he worries that it will soon evolve into something else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that all those different modalities are coming together into this Real-Time Investigation Center, the whole of that is now greater than the sum of its parts,” Kubin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "San Francisco Police Audit Shows Feds ‘Improperly’ Accessed License Plate Data Hundreds of Times",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows\">license plate reader\u003c/a> data has been improperly accessed hundreds of times by out-of-state and federal agencies since last May, police officials said Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Police Department said that an audit of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989977/san-franciscos-new-license-plate-readers-are-leading-to-arrests-and-concerns-about-privacy\">controversial surveillance technology\u003c/a> — which some Bay Area cities have abandoned over data-sharing concerns — revealed that the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, or NCRIC, an anti-crime organization that shares information between law enforcement agencies, repeatedly queried SFPD and more than 500 law enforcement agencies statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco introduced automated license plate readers operated by Flock Safety in 2024, and the department has credited the technology with “revolutionizing” the way it solves crimes and identifies suspects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the revelations from the audit have already drawn renewed scrutiny of the partnership — after cities across the Bay Area have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082887/berkeley-extends-surveillance-contract-with-flock-safety-but-rejects-major-expansion\">reconsidered\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">terminated contracts\u003c/a> in the last year following reports that some customers’ data had been \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/06/california-police-sharing-license-plate-reader-data/\">illegally accessed by out-of-state agencies\u003c/a>, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, without their knowledge and in violation of California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under a 2015 state law, California public agencies are barred from sharing license plate reader data with federal and out-of-state agencies, and they are subject to strict privacy policies on such information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Local law enforcement continue not to care, not [to] pay attention to these sensitive databases that we have,” said Brian Hofer, whose nonprofit, Secure Justice, sued Oakland over reports of illegal data sharing last year. He said the organization plans to file a separate suit over the new findings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069708\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069708\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFFlockSafetyGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1406\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFFlockSafetyGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFFlockSafetyGetty-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFFlockSafetyGetty-1536x1080.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In an aerial view, an automated license plate reader is seen mounted on a pole on June 13, 2024, in San Francisco, California. The city of San Francisco has installed 100 automated license plate readers across the city and plans to install 300 more in the coming weeks as officials look to technology to help combat crime in the city. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Civil liberties organizations have also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080233/san-jose-residents-sue-city-saying-flock-safety-cameras-allow-mass-surveillance\">sued San José\u003c/a> related to its Flock cameras, alleging that the technology creates an unconstitutional “mass surveillance system.” Critics fear the data could be used against immigrants and women seeking reproductive care, as the Trump administration moves to expand deportations and limit abortion access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock advertises its data-sharing offerings, which allow customers to share camera data with other contracted agencies on either a national, state or one-to-one sharing level. In part, the tool is intended to increase coordination between neighboring departments, such as being able to track a suspect vehicle that travels from one jurisdiction to another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many Bay Area agencies have said that they do not participate in the “National Lookup,” and instead share their data on a one-to-one basis with neighboring departments, some have alleged that the wider sharing setting was reactivated by Flock without their knowledge, allowing out-of-state agencies to access their information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this case, SFPD allowed NCRIC to access its data, but said that the partner organization gave access to analysts from a third-party group, the West States Information Network, “during night hours.” SFPD Chief Derrick Lew said analysts from WSIN, an agency that provides law enforcement coordination and analytical support, conducted the searches on behalf of other agencies and did not know about California’s state law prohibiting data sharing out of state. The department has since disabled both NCRIC and WSIN’s access to the city’s camera network, Lew said.[aside postID=news_12082887 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_010-KQED.jpg']Hofer said Secure Justice has been warning about illegal inquiries for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was always a known speculative concern, and for the last two-and-a-half years of doing audits, it’s been a proven concern,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NCRIC Executive Director Mike Sena said the organization’s protocol is not to share data with federal and out-of-state agencies. He said that was not part of WSIN’s protocol before the audit, but that its policies have been “corrected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, a Flock spokesperson said the breach “was not the result of a software malfunction, platform issue, unauthorized access or any failure of the Flock system. It involved searches conducted by authorized users at a California state agency that were later determined to be inconsistent with California’s ALPR data-sharing requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear, according to Lew, if any of the outside organizations accessed any SFPD data. Not every query “hits,” or leads to relevant information, he explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the searches, he said, were queries related to criminal activity and “serious” crime, including homicide, child sexual abuse and drug and gun trafficking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lew said the “queries of concern” conducted by NCRIC don’t include any that reference immigration enforcement or reproductive rights. He confirmed that the department is not aware of data being accessed by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hofer said that doesn’t guarantee the searches weren’t conducted for a related purpose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They just stopped putting things in writing,” he said. “Before all these public record requests and scandals started blowing up, people were actually honest. When they would do a search for ICE, they would literally type in, ‘looking for ICE, investigation number …’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, a federal law enforcement agency in Texas told local officers to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.404media.co/police-told-to-be-as-vague-as-permissible-about-why-they-use-flock/\">as “vague as permissible\u003c/a>” in their Flock database searches, instructing them to say it is for the purpose, for example, of “investigation.” Hofer said Flock has also removed features that track the name of the officer who conducts a search, and suppressed searches with terms like immigration enforcement and abortion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows\">license plate reader\u003c/a> data has been improperly accessed hundreds of times by out-of-state and federal agencies since last May, police officials said Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Police Department said that an audit of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989977/san-franciscos-new-license-plate-readers-are-leading-to-arrests-and-concerns-about-privacy\">controversial surveillance technology\u003c/a> — which some Bay Area cities have abandoned over data-sharing concerns — revealed that the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, or NCRIC, an anti-crime organization that shares information between law enforcement agencies, repeatedly queried SFPD and more than 500 law enforcement agencies statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco introduced automated license plate readers operated by Flock Safety in 2024, and the department has credited the technology with “revolutionizing” the way it solves crimes and identifies suspects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the revelations from the audit have already drawn renewed scrutiny of the partnership — after cities across the Bay Area have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082887/berkeley-extends-surveillance-contract-with-flock-safety-but-rejects-major-expansion\">reconsidered\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">terminated contracts\u003c/a> in the last year following reports that some customers’ data had been \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/06/california-police-sharing-license-plate-reader-data/\">illegally accessed by out-of-state agencies\u003c/a>, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, without their knowledge and in violation of California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under a 2015 state law, California public agencies are barred from sharing license plate reader data with federal and out-of-state agencies, and they are subject to strict privacy policies on such information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Local law enforcement continue not to care, not [to] pay attention to these sensitive databases that we have,” said Brian Hofer, whose nonprofit, Secure Justice, sued Oakland over reports of illegal data sharing last year. He said the organization plans to file a separate suit over the new findings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069708\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069708\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFFlockSafetyGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1406\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFFlockSafetyGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFFlockSafetyGetty-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFFlockSafetyGetty-1536x1080.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In an aerial view, an automated license plate reader is seen mounted on a pole on June 13, 2024, in San Francisco, California. The city of San Francisco has installed 100 automated license plate readers across the city and plans to install 300 more in the coming weeks as officials look to technology to help combat crime in the city. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Civil liberties organizations have also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080233/san-jose-residents-sue-city-saying-flock-safety-cameras-allow-mass-surveillance\">sued San José\u003c/a> related to its Flock cameras, alleging that the technology creates an unconstitutional “mass surveillance system.” Critics fear the data could be used against immigrants and women seeking reproductive care, as the Trump administration moves to expand deportations and limit abortion access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock advertises its data-sharing offerings, which allow customers to share camera data with other contracted agencies on either a national, state or one-to-one sharing level. In part, the tool is intended to increase coordination between neighboring departments, such as being able to track a suspect vehicle that travels from one jurisdiction to another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many Bay Area agencies have said that they do not participate in the “National Lookup,” and instead share their data on a one-to-one basis with neighboring departments, some have alleged that the wider sharing setting was reactivated by Flock without their knowledge, allowing out-of-state agencies to access their information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this case, SFPD allowed NCRIC to access its data, but said that the partner organization gave access to analysts from a third-party group, the West States Information Network, “during night hours.” SFPD Chief Derrick Lew said analysts from WSIN, an agency that provides law enforcement coordination and analytical support, conducted the searches on behalf of other agencies and did not know about California’s state law prohibiting data sharing out of state. The department has since disabled both NCRIC and WSIN’s access to the city’s camera network, Lew said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Hofer said Secure Justice has been warning about illegal inquiries for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was always a known speculative concern, and for the last two-and-a-half years of doing audits, it’s been a proven concern,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NCRIC Executive Director Mike Sena said the organization’s protocol is not to share data with federal and out-of-state agencies. He said that was not part of WSIN’s protocol before the audit, but that its policies have been “corrected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, a Flock spokesperson said the breach “was not the result of a software malfunction, platform issue, unauthorized access or any failure of the Flock system. It involved searches conducted by authorized users at a California state agency that were later determined to be inconsistent with California’s ALPR data-sharing requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear, according to Lew, if any of the outside organizations accessed any SFPD data. Not every query “hits,” or leads to relevant information, he explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the searches, he said, were queries related to criminal activity and “serious” crime, including homicide, child sexual abuse and drug and gun trafficking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lew said the “queries of concern” conducted by NCRIC don’t include any that reference immigration enforcement or reproductive rights. He confirmed that the department is not aware of data being accessed by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hofer said that doesn’t guarantee the searches weren’t conducted for a related purpose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They just stopped putting things in writing,” he said. “Before all these public record requests and scandals started blowing up, people were actually honest. When they would do a search for ICE, they would literally type in, ‘looking for ICE, investigation number …’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, a federal law enforcement agency in Texas told local officers to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.404media.co/police-told-to-be-as-vague-as-permissible-about-why-they-use-flock/\">as “vague as permissible\u003c/a>” in their Flock database searches, instructing them to say it is for the purpose, for example, of “investigation.” Hofer said Flock has also removed features that track the name of the officer who conducts a search, and suppressed searches with terms like immigration enforcement and abortion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "berkeley-extends-surveillance-contract-with-flock-safety-but-rejects-major-expansion",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/berkeley\">Berkeley\u003c/a> is extending its contract with the surveillance company Flock Safety but halting a proposed major expansion that would have added drones and more cameras to the city’s system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The City Council’s vote Thursday night comes after a leaked memo from the city attorney’s office pointing to high-profile instances in other cities where data from Flock’s automated license plate readers was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072077/as-california-cities-grow-wary-of-flock-safety-cameras-mountain-views-shuts-its-off\">shared with outside agencies\u003c/a>. The memo warned council members that Flock might not be able to comply with contractual obligations not to share their data with other customers, including federal immigration enforcement and out-of-state agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Flock’s track record raises serious concerns about data sharing, accountability and oversight,” Mayor Adena Ishii said ahead of the meeting. “One, I do not trust Flock as a company, and two, I don’t trust our current federal government.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The council voted 5 to 4 to approve an extension of up to 12 months of its existing contract with Flock, which was initially approved in 2023 and provides 52 automatic license plate readers. The cameras are used to track down suspects and stolen vehicles, streamline police department coordination and aid investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Council members, however, overwhelmingly rejected the Berkeley Police Department’s request to grow its Flock fleet, introducing new drone technology, investigative software and additional fixed surveillance cameras that would have cost an additional $1.4 million over the next four years. Instead, the council directed the city to engage in a competitive bidding process with other vendors who could offer that surveillance software.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ishii, along with Councilmembers Igor Tregub, Cecilia Lunaparra and Ben Bartlett, voted against the extension of the city’s current contract. The expanded package was rejected on an 8–1 vote, with only Bartlett opposed. He said his district’s residents opposed any contract that could be awarded to Flock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_004-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_004-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_004-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_004-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters gather outside the Berkeley Unified School District boardroom ahead of a Berkeley City Council meeting on a proposed expansion of the city’s contract with surveillance company Flock Safety in Berkeley on May 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Berkeley is one of many Bay Area cities that have contracted with Flock to operate automatic license plate reading cameras in recent years, as police officials and the company have hailed the technology as an effective tool to find suspects and stolen vehicles, and even curb dangerous collisions by reducing the need for pursuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, municipalities have started to rethink or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">terminate\u003c/a> their contracts with Flock after reports that some customers’ data had been accessed by out-of-state agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, without their knowledge and in violation of California law. Separately, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080233/san-jose-residents-sue-city-saying-flock-safety-cameras-allow-mass-surveillance\">San José is facing lawsuits in state and district courts\u003c/a> from civil liberties organizations alleging that the technology creates an unconstitutional “mass surveillance system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under a 2015 state law, California public agencies are barred from sharing license plate reader data with federal and out-of-state agencies, and they are subject to strict privacy policies on such information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock advertises data sharing as part of its offerings, providing options for its customers to share their camera data with other contracted agencies on either a national, state or one-to-one sharing level.[aside postID=news_12080233 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-FLOCK-SECURITY-CAMERA-FILE-MD-04_qed.jpg']While many Bay Area agencies have said that they do not participate in the “National Lookup,” and instead share their data on a one-to-one basis with neighboring departments, some have alleged that the wider sharing setting was reactivated by Flock without their knowledge, allowing out-of-state agencies to access their information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock spokesperson Trevor Chandler told the council at Thursday’s meeting that the company has made it possible for cities to opt out of data sharing and “could have communicated the compliance features better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take full responsibility for that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public officials and activists say the data collected by Flock’s systems could be used against immigrants and women seeking reproductive care, as the Trump administration moves to expand deportations and limit abortion access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our data not only could be, but has been accessed time and time again and used by federal agencies in ways that have undermined other commitments elsewhere, and could and would undermine Berkeley Sanctuary City commitments here,” Tregub said. “There is a real anxiety among our immigrant residents. And safety that does not include our immigrant community is not true public safety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2025, Flock began a pilot program with the U.S. Border Patrol that allowed the agency to search its “National Lookup” database without alerting affected jurisdictions, according to the memo from Berkeley’s city attorney. Berkeley — and the state of California — have sanctuary policy protections that prevent local law enforcement from aiding in federal immigration enforcement operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082870\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082870\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters gather outside the Berkeley Unified School District boardroom before a Berkeley City Council meeting on Berkeley’s proposed contract expansion with surveillance company Flock Safety in Berkeley on May 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Allowing Border Patrol to access California agencies’ data, the city attorney said, “raises concerns among civil liberty groups that Flock is either intentionally violating or recklessly disregarding local sanctuary policies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data from departments that aren’t opted in to the National Lookup could also be at risk if it is shared with other local jurisdictions that then share the information nationally themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/06/california-police-sharing-license-plate-reader-data/\">investigation by \u003cem>CalMatters\u003c/em>\u003c/a> last summer revealed that multiple law enforcement departments in Southern California had carried out searches of data from other agencies in the state on behalf of ICE and Customs and Border Protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082873\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082873\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_023-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_023-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_023-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_023-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Organizers speak during a rally opposing Berkeley’s proposed contract expansion with surveillance company Flock Safety outside the Berkeley Unified School District boardroom in Berkeley on May 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the fall, California Attorney General Rob Bonta also sued the city of El Cajon, alleging it had shared data with more than 100 agencies, including in Texas, Florida and Georgia — all states with stricter limitations on abortion access. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kpbs.org/news/border-immigration/2025/10/08/records-el-cajon-license-plate-data-used-in-nationwide-immigration-searches\">city’s data\u003c/a> was used in immigration-related searches more than 500 times last year, according to KPBS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal agencies have accessed data from Flock cameras in Oakland, and the city of Richmond earlier this year deactivated its own camera network after discovering that federal officials could search its database.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the city can map who attends a place of worship or who seeks immigration help, people fear the worst,” said Musa Tariq, the policy coordinator for the Bay Area’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “They fear that by simply showing up to pray, by seeking legal help, or by standing up for justice, that they or their kids will be violently kidnapped or worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/kmonahan\">\u003cem>Katherine Monahan\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/berkeley\">Berkeley\u003c/a> is extending its contract with the surveillance company Flock Safety but halting a proposed major expansion that would have added drones and more cameras to the city’s system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The City Council’s vote Thursday night comes after a leaked memo from the city attorney’s office pointing to high-profile instances in other cities where data from Flock’s automated license plate readers was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072077/as-california-cities-grow-wary-of-flock-safety-cameras-mountain-views-shuts-its-off\">shared with outside agencies\u003c/a>. The memo warned council members that Flock might not be able to comply with contractual obligations not to share their data with other customers, including federal immigration enforcement and out-of-state agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Flock’s track record raises serious concerns about data sharing, accountability and oversight,” Mayor Adena Ishii said ahead of the meeting. “One, I do not trust Flock as a company, and two, I don’t trust our current federal government.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The council voted 5 to 4 to approve an extension of up to 12 months of its existing contract with Flock, which was initially approved in 2023 and provides 52 automatic license plate readers. The cameras are used to track down suspects and stolen vehicles, streamline police department coordination and aid investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Council members, however, overwhelmingly rejected the Berkeley Police Department’s request to grow its Flock fleet, introducing new drone technology, investigative software and additional fixed surveillance cameras that would have cost an additional $1.4 million over the next four years. Instead, the council directed the city to engage in a competitive bidding process with other vendors who could offer that surveillance software.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ishii, along with Councilmembers Igor Tregub, Cecilia Lunaparra and Ben Bartlett, voted against the extension of the city’s current contract. The expanded package was rejected on an 8–1 vote, with only Bartlett opposed. He said his district’s residents opposed any contract that could be awarded to Flock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_004-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_004-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_004-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_004-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters gather outside the Berkeley Unified School District boardroom ahead of a Berkeley City Council meeting on a proposed expansion of the city’s contract with surveillance company Flock Safety in Berkeley on May 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Berkeley is one of many Bay Area cities that have contracted with Flock to operate automatic license plate reading cameras in recent years, as police officials and the company have hailed the technology as an effective tool to find suspects and stolen vehicles, and even curb dangerous collisions by reducing the need for pursuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, municipalities have started to rethink or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">terminate\u003c/a> their contracts with Flock after reports that some customers’ data had been accessed by out-of-state agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, without their knowledge and in violation of California law. Separately, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080233/san-jose-residents-sue-city-saying-flock-safety-cameras-allow-mass-surveillance\">San José is facing lawsuits in state and district courts\u003c/a> from civil liberties organizations alleging that the technology creates an unconstitutional “mass surveillance system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under a 2015 state law, California public agencies are barred from sharing license plate reader data with federal and out-of-state agencies, and they are subject to strict privacy policies on such information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock advertises data sharing as part of its offerings, providing options for its customers to share their camera data with other contracted agencies on either a national, state or one-to-one sharing level.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While many Bay Area agencies have said that they do not participate in the “National Lookup,” and instead share their data on a one-to-one basis with neighboring departments, some have alleged that the wider sharing setting was reactivated by Flock without their knowledge, allowing out-of-state agencies to access their information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock spokesperson Trevor Chandler told the council at Thursday’s meeting that the company has made it possible for cities to opt out of data sharing and “could have communicated the compliance features better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take full responsibility for that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public officials and activists say the data collected by Flock’s systems could be used against immigrants and women seeking reproductive care, as the Trump administration moves to expand deportations and limit abortion access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our data not only could be, but has been accessed time and time again and used by federal agencies in ways that have undermined other commitments elsewhere, and could and would undermine Berkeley Sanctuary City commitments here,” Tregub said. “There is a real anxiety among our immigrant residents. And safety that does not include our immigrant community is not true public safety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2025, Flock began a pilot program with the U.S. Border Patrol that allowed the agency to search its “National Lookup” database without alerting affected jurisdictions, according to the memo from Berkeley’s city attorney. Berkeley — and the state of California — have sanctuary policy protections that prevent local law enforcement from aiding in federal immigration enforcement operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082870\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082870\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters gather outside the Berkeley Unified School District boardroom before a Berkeley City Council meeting on Berkeley’s proposed contract expansion with surveillance company Flock Safety in Berkeley on May 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Allowing Border Patrol to access California agencies’ data, the city attorney said, “raises concerns among civil liberty groups that Flock is either intentionally violating or recklessly disregarding local sanctuary policies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data from departments that aren’t opted in to the National Lookup could also be at risk if it is shared with other local jurisdictions that then share the information nationally themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/06/california-police-sharing-license-plate-reader-data/\">investigation by \u003cem>CalMatters\u003c/em>\u003c/a> last summer revealed that multiple law enforcement departments in Southern California had carried out searches of data from other agencies in the state on behalf of ICE and Customs and Border Protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082873\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082873\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_023-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_023-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_023-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/050726BERKELEY-FLOCK-RALLY_GH_023-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Organizers speak during a rally opposing Berkeley’s proposed contract expansion with surveillance company Flock Safety outside the Berkeley Unified School District boardroom in Berkeley on May 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the fall, California Attorney General Rob Bonta also sued the city of El Cajon, alleging it had shared data with more than 100 agencies, including in Texas, Florida and Georgia — all states with stricter limitations on abortion access. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kpbs.org/news/border-immigration/2025/10/08/records-el-cajon-license-plate-data-used-in-nationwide-immigration-searches\">city’s data\u003c/a> was used in immigration-related searches more than 500 times last year, according to KPBS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal agencies have accessed data from Flock cameras in Oakland, and the city of Richmond earlier this year deactivated its own camera network after discovering that federal officials could search its database.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the city can map who attends a place of worship or who seeks immigration help, people fear the worst,” said Musa Tariq, the policy coordinator for the Bay Area’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “They fear that by simply showing up to pray, by seeking legal help, or by standing up for justice, that they or their kids will be violently kidnapped or worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/kmonahan\">\u003cem>Katherine Monahan\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "san-jose-residents-sue-city-saying-flock-safety-cameras-allow-mass-surveillance",
"title": "San José Residents Sue City, Saying Flock Safety Cameras Allow ‘Mass Surveillance’",
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"headTitle": "San José Residents Sue City, Saying Flock Safety Cameras Allow ‘Mass Surveillance’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Residents are suing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José \u003c/a>over its Flock Safety cameras, alleging that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075999/san-jose-is-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-restrict-flock-license-plate-cameras\">city’s use of the license-plate reading technology\u003c/a> creates an unconstitutional “mass surveillance system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil rights suit, filed in federal court on Wednesday, said the cameras allow the San José Police Department to monitor residents’ movements in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unlawful search and seizure, and asks a judge to require the city to delete most data the cameras capture after 24 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San José is operating nearly 500 license plate reader cameras connected with AI technology around the city to essentially spy on everyday people going about their business,” said Daniel Woislaw, an attorney with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which is representing the plaintiffs. “This kind of intrusive technology that collects basically a dossier on people on a rolling basis is a search, and therefore has to have some constitutional guardrails around it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three San José residents bringing the suit have alleged that the city’s system of readers conducts constant monitoring, allowing the SJPD and other agencies to track residents’ whereabouts without a warrant or probable cause of a crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re seeking a class-action status on behalf of all city dwellers who have or will have their license plate data recorded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No officer ever has to establish probable cause, swear to the facts in a warrant application, or await the approval of a judge,” the suit said. “Officers can run searches based on a hunch, idle curiosity, or even personal animus. Around the country, officers have been caught using [automated license-plating reader] databases to stalk their ex-partners, monitor protestors and even track down a woman who reportedly had an abortion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076122\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Flock Safety license plate recognition camera is seen near the intersection of Marine Street and Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder on March 5, 2026. \u003ccite>(Matthew Jonas/MediaNews Group/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s legal challenge follows a similar state-level suit \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064587/civil-liberties-groups-sue-san-jose-over-license-plate-reader-use\">brought against San José by civil liberties groups in the fall\u003c/a>, alleging their use of Flock Safety cameras violates the California constitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes as dozens of municipalities across the U.S. terminate or rethink contracts with Flock, a leading company selling the technology, over growing privacy and legal concerns stemming from its data-sharing system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data sharing is an advertised part of Flock’s offerings — the company offers contracted agencies multiple options to share data with other customers, including “National” and “State” lookups, which share data between Flock Safety customers who opt in across the U.S., or only in the agency’s home state, respectively. Alternatively, customers can choose a 1:1 sharing option, which requires that they add agencies they would like to share data with individually.[aside postID=news_12079887 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/GettyImages-2259952730.jpg']City officials have said this can be helpful to follow a suspect’s vehicle movements between nearby jurisdictions. In recent months, though, some Bay Area cities have amended their controls around data sharing after discoveries that their records had been accessed by out-of-state agencies, including to aid in federal immigration enforcement activities in violation of local Sanctuary policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than two dozen municipalities across the U.S. — including\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\"> Santa Cruz\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074467/santa-clara-county-leaders-cut-out-flock-safety-in-new-surveillance-policy\"> Los Altos Hills \u003c/a>— have terminated contracts with Flock altogether. Others, like Oakland and San Francisco, have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067461/oakland-council-expands-flock-license-plate-reader-network-despite-privacy-concerns\">doubled down on their contracts\u003c/a>, lauding the technology’s benefits to aid in investigations and even curb dangerous vehicle collisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the San José residents represented in the suit say that the city’s more than 470 cameras have created a system of “mass surveillance.” Plaintiff Zhaocheng Anthony said in court documents that the system “reminds him of the Chinese surveillance state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Pervasively tracking a person’s movements and then storing them in a government database … creates precisely the type of suffocating atmosphere of surveillance the Framers adopted the Fourth Amendment to prevent,” the suit reads. “Police no longer need to identify suspects in advance to place them under surveillance; they just surveil everyone instead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The residents say that Flock can create “vehicle journey maps” that can be traced to a driver, allowing the city to track residents’ routines, habits and outings, especially to sensitive locations like health care clinics, places of worship and protests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064595\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064595\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-1536x1024.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan helps to install a Flock Safety brand automated license plate reader on April 23, 2024. Civil liberties groups are now suing the city and Mahan over the technology’s uses. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In March, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075999/san-jose-is-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-restrict-flock-license-plate-cameras\">San José’s city council put restrictions\u003c/a> on where the city can position cameras, including near reproductive health care facilities and places of worship; reduced the default data retention period from one year to 30 days; and added new documentation and authentication requirements for agencies requesting sharing access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The San Jose Police Department has robust, transparent policies in place to ensure that the information is not misused in any way, including policies that prohibit direct access to the data to private entities, out-of-state law enforcement agencies, or federal agencies,” City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood said in a statement. “Access to our ALPR system is tightly controlled and limited to authorized SJPD personnel only.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJPD said it conducted a review of internal and external searches in 2025, and found that “all searches were in compliance with department policy and California law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Residents are suing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José \u003c/a>over its Flock Safety cameras, alleging that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075999/san-jose-is-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-restrict-flock-license-plate-cameras\">city’s use of the license-plate reading technology\u003c/a> creates an unconstitutional “mass surveillance system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil rights suit, filed in federal court on Wednesday, said the cameras allow the San José Police Department to monitor residents’ movements in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unlawful search and seizure, and asks a judge to require the city to delete most data the cameras capture after 24 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San José is operating nearly 500 license plate reader cameras connected with AI technology around the city to essentially spy on everyday people going about their business,” said Daniel Woislaw, an attorney with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which is representing the plaintiffs. “This kind of intrusive technology that collects basically a dossier on people on a rolling basis is a search, and therefore has to have some constitutional guardrails around it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three San José residents bringing the suit have alleged that the city’s system of readers conducts constant monitoring, allowing the SJPD and other agencies to track residents’ whereabouts without a warrant or probable cause of a crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re seeking a class-action status on behalf of all city dwellers who have or will have their license plate data recorded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No officer ever has to establish probable cause, swear to the facts in a warrant application, or await the approval of a judge,” the suit said. “Officers can run searches based on a hunch, idle curiosity, or even personal animus. Around the country, officers have been caught using [automated license-plating reader] databases to stalk their ex-partners, monitor protestors and even track down a woman who reportedly had an abortion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076122\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Flock Safety license plate recognition camera is seen near the intersection of Marine Street and Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder on March 5, 2026. \u003ccite>(Matthew Jonas/MediaNews Group/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s legal challenge follows a similar state-level suit \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064587/civil-liberties-groups-sue-san-jose-over-license-plate-reader-use\">brought against San José by civil liberties groups in the fall\u003c/a>, alleging their use of Flock Safety cameras violates the California constitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes as dozens of municipalities across the U.S. terminate or rethink contracts with Flock, a leading company selling the technology, over growing privacy and legal concerns stemming from its data-sharing system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data sharing is an advertised part of Flock’s offerings — the company offers contracted agencies multiple options to share data with other customers, including “National” and “State” lookups, which share data between Flock Safety customers who opt in across the U.S., or only in the agency’s home state, respectively. Alternatively, customers can choose a 1:1 sharing option, which requires that they add agencies they would like to share data with individually.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>City officials have said this can be helpful to follow a suspect’s vehicle movements between nearby jurisdictions. In recent months, though, some Bay Area cities have amended their controls around data sharing after discoveries that their records had been accessed by out-of-state agencies, including to aid in federal immigration enforcement activities in violation of local Sanctuary policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than two dozen municipalities across the U.S. — including\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\"> Santa Cruz\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074467/santa-clara-county-leaders-cut-out-flock-safety-in-new-surveillance-policy\"> Los Altos Hills \u003c/a>— have terminated contracts with Flock altogether. Others, like Oakland and San Francisco, have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067461/oakland-council-expands-flock-license-plate-reader-network-despite-privacy-concerns\">doubled down on their contracts\u003c/a>, lauding the technology’s benefits to aid in investigations and even curb dangerous vehicle collisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the San José residents represented in the suit say that the city’s more than 470 cameras have created a system of “mass surveillance.” Plaintiff Zhaocheng Anthony said in court documents that the system “reminds him of the Chinese surveillance state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Pervasively tracking a person’s movements and then storing them in a government database … creates precisely the type of suffocating atmosphere of surveillance the Framers adopted the Fourth Amendment to prevent,” the suit reads. “Police no longer need to identify suspects in advance to place them under surveillance; they just surveil everyone instead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The residents say that Flock can create “vehicle journey maps” that can be traced to a driver, allowing the city to track residents’ routines, habits and outings, especially to sensitive locations like health care clinics, places of worship and protests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064595\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064595\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-1536x1024.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan helps to install a Flock Safety brand automated license plate reader on April 23, 2024. Civil liberties groups are now suing the city and Mahan over the technology’s uses. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In March, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075999/san-jose-is-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-restrict-flock-license-plate-cameras\">San José’s city council put restrictions\u003c/a> on where the city can position cameras, including near reproductive health care facilities and places of worship; reduced the default data retention period from one year to 30 days; and added new documentation and authentication requirements for agencies requesting sharing access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The San Jose Police Department has robust, transparent policies in place to ensure that the information is not misused in any way, including policies that prohibit direct access to the data to private entities, out-of-state law enforcement agencies, or federal agencies,” City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood said in a statement. “Access to our ALPR system is tightly controlled and limited to authorized SJPD personnel only.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJPD said it conducted a review of internal and external searches in 2025, and found that “all searches were in compliance with department policy and California law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Since switching on five weeks ago, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>’s 35 automated speed cameras have caught drivers speeding 140,445 times, according to a report released Friday by the Oakland Department of Transportation. That’s an average of 3,601 speeders per day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If those numbers are any indicator, Oaklanders are about to receive a flood of citations when the cameras begin issuing fines this Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s speed cameras, placed at 18 spots across town, have been issuing $0 warnings throughout the city since Jan. 14. But when the 60-day warning period ends this weekend, drivers traveling 11 mph or more over the speed limit at those locations will be mailed tickets starting at $50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The citations will make Oakland the second Bay Area city, after San Francisco, to use automated speed cameras to fine speeding drivers, as part of a statewide effort to discourage dangerous driving and improve street safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cameras will be in place for up to five years, per \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB645\">AB 645\u003c/a>, a 2023 law which authorized six California cities — including San José, Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach — to pilot the camera systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\" allow=\"local-network-access; geolocation\" title=\"Oakland Speed Cameras\" src=\"https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?configurableview=true&webmap=a981ea6d40354679961649eb75ce78ad&theme=light&heading=true&legend=true&scroll=false¢er=-122.22883709299894,37.787819162784366&scale=72223.819286\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re on a quest for safer streets,” said Josh Rowan, the director of Oakland’s Department of Transportation. “ This is just one more tool for trying to get speeds down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city has said speeding is one of the most common causes of severe and fatal crashes in Oakland. Oakland recorded 23 traffic fatalities last year, down from recent highs of 36 deaths in 2022 and 2020. Out of all transportation modes, pedestrians are consistently among the highest number of Oakland’s traffic victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At all but one location, drivers issued warnings by the cameras were traveling about 11 to 15 mph over the speed limit, the report showed. The exception was Foothill Boulevard, between 19th and 20th Avenue, where the speeding drivers traveled an average of 19 miles per hour over the speed limit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Speed Camera Locations with Most Warnings Issued\" aria-label=\"Grouped Bars\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-yB2Lj\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/yB2Lj/4/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"600\" height=\"568\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The southbound-facing camera at 73rd Avenue between Krause Avenue and Fresno Street recorded the most speeders out of all the cameras, an average of 320 per day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are some bright spots in the data. Across all camera locations, just 1.5% of all drivers were issued warnings for speeding, according to the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ We’re spending a lot of money dealing with crashes, infrastructure damage and safety issues that’s being caused by a very small subset of drivers,” Rowan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Speed Camera Locations with Highest MPH Over Limit\" aria-label=\"Table\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-cwcNs\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/cwcNs/4/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"600\" height=\"725\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he expects the city to use the data from the speed camera program to inform where to make capital investments to city streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I think this will enable us to say, ‘this is an area that really needs attention,’ and if we can address it here, we can keep bending the crash curve downward,” Rowan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the water, San Francisco has reported that the cameras have been effective at reducing speeding at camera locations. In a sample study of 15 camera locations, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency reported a\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/blog/our-speed-cameras-are-working-initial-evaluation-shows-drivers-are-slowing-down\"> 72% reduction\u003c/a> in speeding since the first cameras were activated last March.[aside postID=news_12065712 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251202-OAKSPEEDCAMERAS-02-BL-KQED.jpg']San Francisco reported 140,956 warnings to speeding drivers in the first 38 days all their cameras were operational, just over 500 more than Oakland, according to a KQED analysis of city data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA said the number of warnings was likely an \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/blog/our-speed-cameras-are-working-initial-evaluation-shows-drivers-are-slowing-down#:~:text=Note%20about%20the%20warning%20and,the%20launch%20of%20this%20program.\">undercount \u003c/a>due to issues with data gathering. San Francisco has two fewer cameras than Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As in San Francisco, Oakland contracted the Arizona-based technology company Verra Mobility to administer the program. When one of the cameras detects a speeding driver, the camera captures the license plate and a citation is mailed to the owner, according to the city. Citation amounts are on a sliding scale, from $50 to as much as $500 for drivers traveling more than 100 mph.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rowan said the city will monitor if overall citations are decreasing over time, and what percentage of speeders get more than one citation, to assess if the program is effective in changing driver behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I really would like to see reduced speeds over time and reduced citations over time. We really want to drive this as close to zero as we can,” Rowan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city plans to release additional data on the program this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Since switching on five weeks ago, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>’s 35 automated speed cameras have caught drivers speeding 140,445 times, according to a report released Friday by the Oakland Department of Transportation. That’s an average of 3,601 speeders per day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If those numbers are any indicator, Oaklanders are about to receive a flood of citations when the cameras begin issuing fines this Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s speed cameras, placed at 18 spots across town, have been issuing $0 warnings throughout the city since Jan. 14. But when the 60-day warning period ends this weekend, drivers traveling 11 mph or more over the speed limit at those locations will be mailed tickets starting at $50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The citations will make Oakland the second Bay Area city, after San Francisco, to use automated speed cameras to fine speeding drivers, as part of a statewide effort to discourage dangerous driving and improve street safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cameras will be in place for up to five years, per \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB645\">AB 645\u003c/a>, a 2023 law which authorized six California cities — including San José, Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach — to pilot the camera systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\" allow=\"local-network-access; geolocation\" title=\"Oakland Speed Cameras\" src=\"https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?configurableview=true&webmap=a981ea6d40354679961649eb75ce78ad&theme=light&heading=true&legend=true&scroll=false¢er=-122.22883709299894,37.787819162784366&scale=72223.819286\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re on a quest for safer streets,” said Josh Rowan, the director of Oakland’s Department of Transportation. “ This is just one more tool for trying to get speeds down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city has said speeding is one of the most common causes of severe and fatal crashes in Oakland. Oakland recorded 23 traffic fatalities last year, down from recent highs of 36 deaths in 2022 and 2020. Out of all transportation modes, pedestrians are consistently among the highest number of Oakland’s traffic victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At all but one location, drivers issued warnings by the cameras were traveling about 11 to 15 mph over the speed limit, the report showed. The exception was Foothill Boulevard, between 19th and 20th Avenue, where the speeding drivers traveled an average of 19 miles per hour over the speed limit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Speed Camera Locations with Most Warnings Issued\" aria-label=\"Grouped Bars\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-yB2Lj\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/yB2Lj/4/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"600\" height=\"568\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The southbound-facing camera at 73rd Avenue between Krause Avenue and Fresno Street recorded the most speeders out of all the cameras, an average of 320 per day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are some bright spots in the data. Across all camera locations, just 1.5% of all drivers were issued warnings for speeding, according to the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ We’re spending a lot of money dealing with crashes, infrastructure damage and safety issues that’s being caused by a very small subset of drivers,” Rowan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Speed Camera Locations with Highest MPH Over Limit\" aria-label=\"Table\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-cwcNs\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/cwcNs/4/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"600\" height=\"725\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he expects the city to use the data from the speed camera program to inform where to make capital investments to city streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I think this will enable us to say, ‘this is an area that really needs attention,’ and if we can address it here, we can keep bending the crash curve downward,” Rowan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the water, San Francisco has reported that the cameras have been effective at reducing speeding at camera locations. In a sample study of 15 camera locations, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency reported a\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/blog/our-speed-cameras-are-working-initial-evaluation-shows-drivers-are-slowing-down\"> 72% reduction\u003c/a> in speeding since the first cameras were activated last March.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>San Francisco reported 140,956 warnings to speeding drivers in the first 38 days all their cameras were operational, just over 500 more than Oakland, according to a KQED analysis of city data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA said the number of warnings was likely an \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/blog/our-speed-cameras-are-working-initial-evaluation-shows-drivers-are-slowing-down#:~:text=Note%20about%20the%20warning%20and,the%20launch%20of%20this%20program.\">undercount \u003c/a>due to issues with data gathering. San Francisco has two fewer cameras than Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As in San Francisco, Oakland contracted the Arizona-based technology company Verra Mobility to administer the program. When one of the cameras detects a speeding driver, the camera captures the license plate and a citation is mailed to the owner, according to the city. Citation amounts are on a sliding scale, from $50 to as much as $500 for drivers traveling more than 100 mph.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rowan said the city will monitor if overall citations are decreasing over time, and what percentage of speeders get more than one citation, to assess if the program is effective in changing driver behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I really would like to see reduced speeds over time and reduced citations over time. We really want to drive this as close to zero as we can,” Rowan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city plans to release additional data on the program this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to tighten restrictions on its network of automated license plate reader cameras — the latest \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074467/santa-clara-county-leaders-cut-out-flock-safety-in-new-surveillance-policy\">Bay Area municipality\u003c/a> to take a closer look at the software’s risks and rewards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 100 residents showed up to the meeting to weigh in on the city’s contract with Flock Safety, the automated license plate reader operator. Some credited the cameras with solving crime, while others warned of surveillance risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police Chief Paul Joseph told the council the cameras have been instrumental in solving serious crimes — including murders, kidnappings and sexual assaults — across every district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have never seen a technology advance so impactful to our ability to keep the community safe as I have with these license plate reader cameras,” Joseph said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15279913&GUID=F5A3F78C-488C-4982-A9DC-EFFD550773B4\">changes\u003c/a> reduce the default data retention period from one year to 30 days, prohibit placing cameras near reproductive health care facilities and places of worship, and add new documentation and authentication requirements for agencies requesting access to the data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076124\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1987px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076124\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/IMG_1821-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1987\" height=\"1490\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/IMG_1821-1.jpg 1987w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/IMG_1821-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/IMG_1821-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1987px) 100vw, 1987px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hui Tran, executive director of the Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, addresses demonstrators outside San Jose City Hall on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, as the City Council prepared to vote on changes to the city’s automated license plate reader program. \u003ccite>(Ayah Ali-Ahmad/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Officials said the new policy would also save the city an estimated $147,000 annually in storage costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, Santa Cruz became the first city in the state to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">terminate its Flock contract in January\u003c/a>, after city officials confirmed out-of-state agencies had accessed its data in violation of state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mountain View \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072077/as-california-cities-grow-wary-of-flock-safety-cameras-mountain-views-shuts-its-off\">shut off its cameras in February\u003c/a> after a similar discovery, and Santa Clara County supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074467/santa-clara-county-leaders-cut-out-flock-safety-in-new-surveillance-policy\">also amended their surveillance policy last month\u003c/a> to effectively cut out Flock as a vendor in Cupertino, Saratoga and Los Altos Hills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José has 474 Flock cameras administered by the police department’s Real Time Intelligence Center.[aside postID=news_12069838 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250319-SF-SPEED-CAMERAS-MD-06_qed-1.jpg'] Joseph said the department has never shared data with federal immigration authorities — which would be illegal under California law — and that the manufacturer has disabled that capability statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An independent audit found no unauthorized access or suspicious activity, according to the city’s Chief Information Officer Khaled Tawfik.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But advocates say restricting the cameras is not enough — they want the city to end its Flock contract entirely. Kimberly Woo, an organizer with the Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, said no policy can fully protect residents from what she called the “dangers of mass surveillance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We must refuse to give this authoritarian federal government any AI mass surveillance weapon that will and has already been used to hunt our neighbors,” Woo said at a rally outside City Hall before the city council’s vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last year, SIREN and the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064587/civil-liberties-groups-sue-san-jose-over-license-plate-reader-use\"> a lawsuit against the city\u003c/a> over its use of the cameras. Advocates warned that the data could be used to track residents visiting mosques, immigration legal clinics or health care facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064595\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064595\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-1536x1024.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan helps to install a Flock Safety brand automated license plate reader on April 23, 2024. Civil liberties groups are now suing the city and Mahan over the technology’s uses. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The coalition is calling on the city to permanently end its Flock contract, halt all license plate reader operations until an alternative vendor is found, require judicial warrants for all data searches and establish a quarterly independent audit process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the council discussion, Mayor Matt Mahan defended the city’s approach, arguing San José had been ahead of other cities in establishing privacy protections before Tuesday’s additional recommendations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I personally believe from everything I have read, seen, studied and discussed that we’ve struck the right balance here,” Mahan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The council approved two additional memos related to the Flock contract. A \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15300715&GUID=F23F24C0-E5F4-4B56-9966-79D2D9CB7240\">brief \u003c/a>authored by Councilmember Domingo Candelas and four colleagues directs the city manager to explore alternative vendors, prohibits facial recognition integration and adds consulate and embassy offices to the list of sensitive locations where cameras cannot be placed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987727\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11987727\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José City Councilmember Peter Ortiz speaks during a rally outside of Regional Medical Center in East San José on May 24. Ortiz and others called on Attorney General Rob Bonta to halt service cuts planned by the hospital’s ownership. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15300754&GUID=16AEDB62-5677-4F86-A16A-FF261DF0056B\">separate memo\u003c/a> from Councilmember Peter Ortiz expanded placement restrictions to include facilities that primarily offer gender-affirming care. During the meeting, Ortiz went further, saying the city should end its Flock contract entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My concern is not with ALPR technology itself; my concern is with Flock Safety as a vendor,” Ortiz said. “Honestly, I believe we should end our contract with Flock today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortiz noted that the contract comes up for renewal each June, meaning the council could opt not to extend it. The contract otherwise runs on annual extensions through 2034 before a new competitive bidding process would be required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": " Advocates said the changes aren’t enough. They want the city to follow others in Santa Clara County, and end its contract entirely.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to tighten restrictions on its network of automated license plate reader cameras — the latest \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074467/santa-clara-county-leaders-cut-out-flock-safety-in-new-surveillance-policy\">Bay Area municipality\u003c/a> to take a closer look at the software’s risks and rewards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 100 residents showed up to the meeting to weigh in on the city’s contract with Flock Safety, the automated license plate reader operator. Some credited the cameras with solving crime, while others warned of surveillance risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police Chief Paul Joseph told the council the cameras have been instrumental in solving serious crimes — including murders, kidnappings and sexual assaults — across every district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have never seen a technology advance so impactful to our ability to keep the community safe as I have with these license plate reader cameras,” Joseph said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15279913&GUID=F5A3F78C-488C-4982-A9DC-EFFD550773B4\">changes\u003c/a> reduce the default data retention period from one year to 30 days, prohibit placing cameras near reproductive health care facilities and places of worship, and add new documentation and authentication requirements for agencies requesting access to the data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076124\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1987px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076124\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/IMG_1821-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1987\" height=\"1490\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/IMG_1821-1.jpg 1987w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/IMG_1821-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/IMG_1821-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1987px) 100vw, 1987px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hui Tran, executive director of the Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, addresses demonstrators outside San Jose City Hall on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, as the City Council prepared to vote on changes to the city’s automated license plate reader program. \u003ccite>(Ayah Ali-Ahmad/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Officials said the new policy would also save the city an estimated $147,000 annually in storage costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, Santa Cruz became the first city in the state to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">terminate its Flock contract in January\u003c/a>, after city officials confirmed out-of-state agencies had accessed its data in violation of state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mountain View \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072077/as-california-cities-grow-wary-of-flock-safety-cameras-mountain-views-shuts-its-off\">shut off its cameras in February\u003c/a> after a similar discovery, and Santa Clara County supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074467/santa-clara-county-leaders-cut-out-flock-safety-in-new-surveillance-policy\">also amended their surveillance policy last month\u003c/a> to effectively cut out Flock as a vendor in Cupertino, Saratoga and Los Altos Hills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José has 474 Flock cameras administered by the police department’s Real Time Intelligence Center.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Joseph said the department has never shared data with federal immigration authorities — which would be illegal under California law — and that the manufacturer has disabled that capability statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An independent audit found no unauthorized access or suspicious activity, according to the city’s Chief Information Officer Khaled Tawfik.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But advocates say restricting the cameras is not enough — they want the city to end its Flock contract entirely. Kimberly Woo, an organizer with the Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, said no policy can fully protect residents from what she called the “dangers of mass surveillance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We must refuse to give this authoritarian federal government any AI mass surveillance weapon that will and has already been used to hunt our neighbors,” Woo said at a rally outside City Hall before the city council’s vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last year, SIREN and the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064587/civil-liberties-groups-sue-san-jose-over-license-plate-reader-use\"> a lawsuit against the city\u003c/a> over its use of the cameras. Advocates warned that the data could be used to track residents visiting mosques, immigration legal clinics or health care facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064595\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064595\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-1536x1024.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan helps to install a Flock Safety brand automated license plate reader on April 23, 2024. Civil liberties groups are now suing the city and Mahan over the technology’s uses. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The coalition is calling on the city to permanently end its Flock contract, halt all license plate reader operations until an alternative vendor is found, require judicial warrants for all data searches and establish a quarterly independent audit process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the council discussion, Mayor Matt Mahan defended the city’s approach, arguing San José had been ahead of other cities in establishing privacy protections before Tuesday’s additional recommendations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I personally believe from everything I have read, seen, studied and discussed that we’ve struck the right balance here,” Mahan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The council approved two additional memos related to the Flock contract. A \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15300715&GUID=F23F24C0-E5F4-4B56-9966-79D2D9CB7240\">brief \u003c/a>authored by Councilmember Domingo Candelas and four colleagues directs the city manager to explore alternative vendors, prohibits facial recognition integration and adds consulate and embassy offices to the list of sensitive locations where cameras cannot be placed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987727\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11987727\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-5_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José City Councilmember Peter Ortiz speaks during a rally outside of Regional Medical Center in East San José on May 24. Ortiz and others called on Attorney General Rob Bonta to halt service cuts planned by the hospital’s ownership. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15300754&GUID=16AEDB62-5677-4F86-A16A-FF261DF0056B\">separate memo\u003c/a> from Councilmember Peter Ortiz expanded placement restrictions to include facilities that primarily offer gender-affirming care. During the meeting, Ortiz went further, saying the city should end its Flock contract entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My concern is not with ALPR technology itself; my concern is with Flock Safety as a vendor,” Ortiz said. “Honestly, I believe we should end our contract with Flock today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortiz noted that the contract comes up for renewal each June, meaning the council could opt not to extend it. The contract otherwise runs on annual extensions through 2034 before a new competitive bidding process would be required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "As California Cities Grow Wary of Flock Safety Cameras, Mountain View Shuts Its Off",
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"headTitle": "As California Cities Grow Wary of Flock Safety Cameras, Mountain View Shuts Its Off | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The Mountain View Police Department has joined a growing list of law enforcement agencies to turn off \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows\">automated license plate reading cameras\u003c/a> operated by Flock Safety amid rising concerns about the company’s data privacy practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police Chief Mike Canfield said in a public message on Monday that he made that decision after the city discovered that out-of-state agencies were illegally accessing its data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Community trust is more important than any individual tool,” he wrote. “I share your anger and frustration regarding how Flock Safety’s system enabled out-of-state agencies to search our license plate data, and I am sorry that such searches occurred.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, the Mountain View Police Department said it had discovered during an audit of its Flock program that federal agencies accessed its cameras’ data through a nationwide search tool during a brief period in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department said the feature was “enabled without MVPD’s permission or knowledge.” It also said that 29 of its 30 cameras were accessed by other California law enforcement agencies that had not been approved to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was against how we had designed the system,” Canfield told KQED on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072164\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072164\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/MountainViewPoliceDeptGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/MountainViewPoliceDeptGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/MountainViewPoliceDeptGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/MountainViewPoliceDeptGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mountain View Police Department building in Mountain View, California, on May 3, 2019. \u003ccite>(Smith Collection/Gado via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over the last year, more than two dozen municipalities across the U.S. have terminated contracts with Flock over reports that federal immigration agencies have used its searchable license plate database amid the Trump administration’s escalating crackdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In early January, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">Santa Cruz became the first\u003c/a> city in California to sever relations with Flock, and Los Altos Hills quickly followed. Last week, Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong moved to delay renewing the county’s Flock contract by a month while officials investigate data-sharing concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other cities across the Bay Area have opted to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows\">continue using Flock’s systems\u003c/a>, including San Francisco and Oakland, which renewed and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067461/oakland-council-expands-flock-license-plate-reader-network-despite-privacy-concerns\">expanded its contract\u003c/a> with the company in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock’s cameras record and store license plate data that its customers, such as city police departments, use to aid their investigations. The company offers contracted agencies multiple data sharing options, including “National” and “State” lookups, which share data between Flock Safety customers who opt in across the U.S., or only in the agency’s home state, respectively. Alternatively, customers can choose a 1:1 sharing option, which requires that they add agencies they would like to share data with individually.[aside postID=news_12069705 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFFlockSafetyGetty.jpg']In California, a 2015 state law prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from sharing license plate reader data with out-of-state or federal agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Canfield, the system MVPD built did not allow out-of-state agencies to access its data and required in-state agencies to get approval from him, or a designee, as well as sign a memorandum of understanding regarding how the information was used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had built it to have very strong access controls, and we were under the impression that that’s exactly how it was functioning,” Canfield said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Brian Hofer, the executive director of the privacy nonprofit Secure Justice, said that the department likely did allow the sharing, regardless of whether it intended to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What did Flock do? Did Flock force a code change on you and lie to you about it?” he asked. “Statistically, it’s most likely to be the Mountain View Police Department that turned those things on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said when similar concerns arose in Illinois and Colorado, “the local police had opted into these things and just didn’t understand the consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Canfield said it’s not clear whether any data recorded by Mountain View’s Flock cameras was actually shared, but it was accessible to national agencies for a three-month period, and has been accessible to other state agencies longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12005552\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12005552\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1323\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader-800x529.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader-1020x675.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader-1536x1016.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader-1920x1270.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An automated license plate reader is seen mounted on a pole on June 13, 2024, in San Francisco, California. Just across the Bay Bridge, Oakland is installing new automated license plate readers from the state. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I haven’t seen anything that’s particularly concerning, like search terms that would be alarming to my community,” he said. “However, there’s a lot of searches that come through that data, so unfortunately, there’s no records to know exactly what was or was not gleaned from it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one California police department, El Cajon, in San Diego County, has come under fire for sharing other in-state departments’ data with out-of-state agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the El Cajon Police Department in October over the practice, which violates California law.[aside postID=news_12071559 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/ElonMuskInaugurationTechGetty.jpg']Just this week, he wrote a motion asking the San Diego Superior Court to compel the department to stop, writing that the “data raises serious privacy concerns because of its ability to capture and track the movements of anyone who passes through a given area, thereby creating a database with millions of images, including individuals in vulnerable circumstances, such as undocumented individuals or people seeking reproductive care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Canfield said that despite the concerns, he believes there is “absolutely” a possibility that Mountain View’s police department will continue to use license plate reader data in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe in its value, and I’m proud of how we used it,” Canfield told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether it will be a continuation of the current pilot system or with Flock is not yet known, though. In a statement, Flock said it was addressing the department’s concerns and looked forward to resuming its “successful partnership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a council meeting at the end of the month where we will present recommendations from staff to the City Council, and they will make a decision on the future of our pilot ALPR program,” Canfield said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ahall\">\u003cem>Alex Hall\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Mountain View Police Department has joined a growing list of law enforcement agencies to turn off \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows\">automated license plate reading cameras\u003c/a> operated by Flock Safety amid rising concerns about the company’s data privacy practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police Chief Mike Canfield said in a public message on Monday that he made that decision after the city discovered that out-of-state agencies were illegally accessing its data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Community trust is more important than any individual tool,” he wrote. “I share your anger and frustration regarding how Flock Safety’s system enabled out-of-state agencies to search our license plate data, and I am sorry that such searches occurred.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, the Mountain View Police Department said it had discovered during an audit of its Flock program that federal agencies accessed its cameras’ data through a nationwide search tool during a brief period in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department said the feature was “enabled without MVPD’s permission or knowledge.” It also said that 29 of its 30 cameras were accessed by other California law enforcement agencies that had not been approved to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was against how we had designed the system,” Canfield told KQED on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072164\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072164\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/MountainViewPoliceDeptGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/MountainViewPoliceDeptGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/MountainViewPoliceDeptGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/MountainViewPoliceDeptGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mountain View Police Department building in Mountain View, California, on May 3, 2019. \u003ccite>(Smith Collection/Gado via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over the last year, more than two dozen municipalities across the U.S. have terminated contracts with Flock over reports that federal immigration agencies have used its searchable license plate database amid the Trump administration’s escalating crackdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In early January, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">Santa Cruz became the first\u003c/a> city in California to sever relations with Flock, and Los Altos Hills quickly followed. Last week, Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong moved to delay renewing the county’s Flock contract by a month while officials investigate data-sharing concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other cities across the Bay Area have opted to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows\">continue using Flock’s systems\u003c/a>, including San Francisco and Oakland, which renewed and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067461/oakland-council-expands-flock-license-plate-reader-network-despite-privacy-concerns\">expanded its contract\u003c/a> with the company in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock’s cameras record and store license plate data that its customers, such as city police departments, use to aid their investigations. The company offers contracted agencies multiple data sharing options, including “National” and “State” lookups, which share data between Flock Safety customers who opt in across the U.S., or only in the agency’s home state, respectively. Alternatively, customers can choose a 1:1 sharing option, which requires that they add agencies they would like to share data with individually.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In California, a 2015 state law prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from sharing license plate reader data with out-of-state or federal agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Canfield, the system MVPD built did not allow out-of-state agencies to access its data and required in-state agencies to get approval from him, or a designee, as well as sign a memorandum of understanding regarding how the information was used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had built it to have very strong access controls, and we were under the impression that that’s exactly how it was functioning,” Canfield said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Brian Hofer, the executive director of the privacy nonprofit Secure Justice, said that the department likely did allow the sharing, regardless of whether it intended to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What did Flock do? Did Flock force a code change on you and lie to you about it?” he asked. “Statistically, it’s most likely to be the Mountain View Police Department that turned those things on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said when similar concerns arose in Illinois and Colorado, “the local police had opted into these things and just didn’t understand the consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Canfield said it’s not clear whether any data recorded by Mountain View’s Flock cameras was actually shared, but it was accessible to national agencies for a three-month period, and has been accessible to other state agencies longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12005552\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12005552\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1323\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader-800x529.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader-1020x675.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader-1536x1016.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader-1920x1270.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An automated license plate reader is seen mounted on a pole on June 13, 2024, in San Francisco, California. Just across the Bay Bridge, Oakland is installing new automated license plate readers from the state. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I haven’t seen anything that’s particularly concerning, like search terms that would be alarming to my community,” he said. “However, there’s a lot of searches that come through that data, so unfortunately, there’s no records to know exactly what was or was not gleaned from it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one California police department, El Cajon, in San Diego County, has come under fire for sharing other in-state departments’ data with out-of-state agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the El Cajon Police Department in October over the practice, which violates California law.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Just this week, he wrote a motion asking the San Diego Superior Court to compel the department to stop, writing that the “data raises serious privacy concerns because of its ability to capture and track the movements of anyone who passes through a given area, thereby creating a database with millions of images, including individuals in vulnerable circumstances, such as undocumented individuals or people seeking reproductive care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Canfield said that despite the concerns, he believes there is “absolutely” a possibility that Mountain View’s police department will continue to use license plate reader data in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe in its value, and I’m proud of how we used it,” Canfield told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether it will be a continuation of the current pilot system or with Flock is not yet known, though. In a statement, Flock said it was addressing the department’s concerns and looked forward to resuming its “successful partnership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a council meeting at the end of the month where we will present recommendations from staff to the City Council, and they will make a decision on the future of our pilot ALPR program,” Canfield said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ahall\">\u003cem>Alex Hall\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety",
"title": "Santa Cruz the First in California to Terminate Its Contract With Flock Safety",
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"headTitle": "Santa Cruz the First in California to Terminate Its Contract With Flock Safety | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Santa Cruz has terminated its contract with Flock Safety, the automated license plate reader operator, over data privacy concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Santa Cruz City Council voted 6-1 on Tuesday to terminate the city’s contract with Flock, citing reports that the city’s data has been accessed by out-of-state agencies, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">at a time\u003c/a> when the Trump administration is pursuing an increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For us, the threat to our civil liberties was greater than any benefit we could get from the flawed product,” said Mayor Fred Keeley, who voted against the Flock contract in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not interested, as they continue to develop their product, to be an experiment for a system which appears to have enormously big holes in it that they discover every day and try to patch to fix,” he said, adding he doesn’t fault the Santa Cruz Police Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5003726529\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November, Santa Cruz police\u003ca href=\"https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/11/18/santa-cruz-pauses-participation-in-flocks-statewide-sharing-portal/\"> Chief Bernie Escalante confirmed\u003c/a> the city’s Flock data had been accessed by out-of-state agencies, prompting city officials to \u003ca href=\"https://lookout.co/city-of-santa-cruz-pauses-statewide-license-plate-data-sharing-citing-flock-safetys-violation-of-california-law/story\">temporarily limit\u003c/a> outside agencies’ access to the city’s license plate reader data and to review its agreement with Flock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California for 10 years has prohibited the sharing of license plate data out of state. Ten years!” said Peter Gelblum, chair of the ACLU’s Santa Cruz County Chapter, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066350\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1760px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066350\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/flock-camera-6936dca8e38fe.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1760\" height=\"1084\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/flock-camera-6936dca8e38fe.jpg 1760w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/flock-camera-6936dca8e38fe-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/flock-camera-6936dca8e38fe-1536x946.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1760px) 100vw, 1760px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Flock camera at Fashion Valley Mall cast in silhouette on Oct. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Scott Rodd/KPBS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Gelblum and other civil liberties advocates, Santa Cruz is the first city in California to end its Flock contract. He credited the Trump administration’s immigration policies for dialing up the sense of urgency in the sanctuary city, as well as data compiled by the recently formed grassroots group \u003ca href=\"https://www.gettheflockout.org\">Get the Flock Out\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They laid out a case that included the finding that, between June and October 2025, state agencies\u003ca href=\"https://lookout.co/anti-flock-group-finds-that-state-agencies-accessed-scpd-camera-data-thousands-of-times-on-feds-behalf-since-mid-2024/story\"> accessed Santa Cruz camera data roughly 4,000 times\u003c/a> on behalf of federal law enforcement, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in violation of California’s SB 34.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under SB 34, California law enforcement agencies are required to adopt detailed usage and privacy policies governing license plate reader data, restrict access to authorized purposes, and regularly audit searches to prevent misuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And yet, the typical standard Flock contract, which the agencies in Santa Cruz County all signed, enables nationwide sharing, and nationwide sharing was going on the entire time,” Gelblum said.[aside postID=news_12066989 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-License-Plate-Readers-01-KQED.jpg']A Flock spokesman told KQED the company has always been willing to comply with requests from law enforcement agencies to shut down outside access to data, to ensure compliance with state and local laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trevor Chandler, director of public affairs for Flock, said the company is committed to honoring the values of every community, so that their civil liberty concerns “don’t have to come at the expense of community safety. All of those tools to customize sharing … can be customized at any moment, for any reason, by any city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though precise tallies differ, civil liberties advocates say roughly 30 municipalities nationwide have recently canceled their contracts with Flock. But Chandler said Flock doesn’t feel threatened by the increased scrutiny.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw Oakland put their program on pause, then \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows\">went on to reauthorize it\u003c/a>. We saw San Diego put their program on pause, customized safety features, then reauthorized it. So if the conversation with Santa Cruz comes back, we’re happy to have that conversation,” Chandler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Cruz first signed its contract with Flock in 2024, and it was scheduled to expire on March 27. Tuesday’s vote allows the city to terminate the agreement with 30 days’ notice, or Feb. 12 at the earliest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Santa Cruz got it right,” Sarah Hamid, director of strategic campaigns with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote KQED. “Santa Cruz joins nearly two dozen jurisdictions in 2025 that canceled or rejected Flock contracts by exercising procurement power — local democracy’s most underutilized tool. These communities recognized that Flock’s surveillance risks are difficult to adequately mitigate through policy alone, and chose instead to invest in public safety approaches that don’t require mass surveillance infrastructure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Santa Cruz has terminated its contract with Flock Safety, the automated license plate reader operator, over data privacy concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Santa Cruz City Council voted 6-1 on Tuesday to terminate the city’s contract with Flock, citing reports that the city’s data has been accessed by out-of-state agencies, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">at a time\u003c/a> when the Trump administration is pursuing an increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For us, the threat to our civil liberties was greater than any benefit we could get from the flawed product,” said Mayor Fred Keeley, who voted against the Flock contract in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not interested, as they continue to develop their product, to be an experiment for a system which appears to have enormously big holes in it that they discover every day and try to patch to fix,” he said, adding he doesn’t fault the Santa Cruz Police Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5003726529\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November, Santa Cruz police\u003ca href=\"https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/11/18/santa-cruz-pauses-participation-in-flocks-statewide-sharing-portal/\"> Chief Bernie Escalante confirmed\u003c/a> the city’s Flock data had been accessed by out-of-state agencies, prompting city officials to \u003ca href=\"https://lookout.co/city-of-santa-cruz-pauses-statewide-license-plate-data-sharing-citing-flock-safetys-violation-of-california-law/story\">temporarily limit\u003c/a> outside agencies’ access to the city’s license plate reader data and to review its agreement with Flock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California for 10 years has prohibited the sharing of license plate data out of state. Ten years!” said Peter Gelblum, chair of the ACLU’s Santa Cruz County Chapter, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066350\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1760px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066350\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/flock-camera-6936dca8e38fe.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1760\" height=\"1084\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/flock-camera-6936dca8e38fe.jpg 1760w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/flock-camera-6936dca8e38fe-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/flock-camera-6936dca8e38fe-1536x946.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1760px) 100vw, 1760px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Flock camera at Fashion Valley Mall cast in silhouette on Oct. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Scott Rodd/KPBS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Gelblum and other civil liberties advocates, Santa Cruz is the first city in California to end its Flock contract. He credited the Trump administration’s immigration policies for dialing up the sense of urgency in the sanctuary city, as well as data compiled by the recently formed grassroots group \u003ca href=\"https://www.gettheflockout.org\">Get the Flock Out\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They laid out a case that included the finding that, between June and October 2025, state agencies\u003ca href=\"https://lookout.co/anti-flock-group-finds-that-state-agencies-accessed-scpd-camera-data-thousands-of-times-on-feds-behalf-since-mid-2024/story\"> accessed Santa Cruz camera data roughly 4,000 times\u003c/a> on behalf of federal law enforcement, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in violation of California’s SB 34.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under SB 34, California law enforcement agencies are required to adopt detailed usage and privacy policies governing license plate reader data, restrict access to authorized purposes, and regularly audit searches to prevent misuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And yet, the typical standard Flock contract, which the agencies in Santa Cruz County all signed, enables nationwide sharing, and nationwide sharing was going on the entire time,” Gelblum said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A Flock spokesman told KQED the company has always been willing to comply with requests from law enforcement agencies to shut down outside access to data, to ensure compliance with state and local laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trevor Chandler, director of public affairs for Flock, said the company is committed to honoring the values of every community, so that their civil liberty concerns “don’t have to come at the expense of community safety. All of those tools to customize sharing … can be customized at any moment, for any reason, by any city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though precise tallies differ, civil liberties advocates say roughly 30 municipalities nationwide have recently canceled their contracts with Flock. But Chandler said Flock doesn’t feel threatened by the increased scrutiny.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw Oakland put their program on pause, then \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows\">went on to reauthorize it\u003c/a>. We saw San Diego put their program on pause, customized safety features, then reauthorized it. So if the conversation with Santa Cruz comes back, we’re happy to have that conversation,” Chandler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Cruz first signed its contract with Flock in 2024, and it was scheduled to expire on March 27. Tuesday’s vote allows the city to terminate the agreement with 30 days’ notice, or Feb. 12 at the earliest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Santa Cruz got it right,” Sarah Hamid, director of strategic campaigns with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote KQED. “Santa Cruz joins nearly two dozen jurisdictions in 2025 that canceled or rejected Flock contracts by exercising procurement power — local democracy’s most underutilized tool. These communities recognized that Flock’s surveillance risks are difficult to adequately mitigate through policy alone, and chose instead to invest in public safety approaches that don’t require mass surveillance infrastructure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows",
"title": "California Cities Double Down on License-Plate Readers as Federal Surveillance Grows",
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"headTitle": "California Cities Double Down on License-Plate Readers as Federal Surveillance Grows | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Over the past decade, automated license-plate readers have quietly become a standard tool for law enforcement across \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12005347/the-east-bay-has-hundreds-of-new-surveillance-cameras-and-more-are-on-the-way\">adopted\u003c/a> by more than 200 city police departments, sheriff’s departments and other agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s despite a series of media reports \u003ca href=\"https://www.404media.co/cbp-had-access-to-more-than-80-000-flock-ai-cameras-nationwide/\">demonstrating\u003c/a> local AI-enabled ALPR databases are \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-patrol-surveillance-drivers-ice-trump-9f5d05469ce8c629d6fecf32d32098cd\">feeding\u003c/a> a federal surveillance system used by the Trump administration against immigrants and others. While a short list of municipalities in other states, including in Texas and Oregon, have responded by canceling contracts, most California officials appear to be digging their heels in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tensions at the heart of the debate were on full view at Oakland City Hall on Tuesday night. More than three hours of public comment preceded the City Council’s 7-1 vote to renew and expand the Oakland Police Department’s \u003ca href=\"https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7778357&GUID=BC9ADFD5-2714-4303-BEA4-70DF1AD489D1&Options=&Search=\">contract with Flock Safety\u003c/a>, the fastest-growing surveillance product vendor in California, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.atlasofsurveillance.org/search?location=California&sort=city_asc&technologies%5B%5D=automated-license-plate-readers&utm_source=chatgpt.com\">Electronic Frontier Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of residents spoke in favor of the $2.25 million, two-year contract, including local homeowners association representatives and small business owners. Stephanie Tran, president of Oakland’s Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, told the city council that the chamber operates more than 50 Flock cameras in the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These community-led systems have supported over 100 cases of investigations, from robberies to arson, car accidents, theft, break-ins and homicide,” Tran said. As part of the contract approved by the city council, the chamber will be able to continue sharing its Flock system data with the police department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other Oakland residents argued that the federal government’s data-enabled immigration crackdown trumps local crime concerns. “This surveillance technology has already caused harm in our communities, and all over the country,” said Alberto Parra of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.acceaction.org\">Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action\u003c/a>, speaking in Spanish. “Oakland residents should not fear driving to work, church, or school, knowing that this data is going to be fed to a national system that’s accessible to ICE.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066779\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066779\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-License-Plate-Readers-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1504\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-License-Plate-Readers-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-License-Plate-Readers-02-KQED-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-License-Plate-Readers-02-KQED-1536x1155.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Law enforcement agencies across California have widely adopted automated license-plate readers to fight crime, but civil-rights advocates warn these surveillance networks also serve as data troves that can be accessed far beyond state borders. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Flock Safety)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Civil liberties advocates have sued both Oakland and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064587/civil-liberties-groups-sue-san-jose-over-license-plate-reader-use\">San José\u003c/a>, alleging their use of automated license plate readers amounts to a “deeply invasive” mass surveillance system that violates residents’ rights to privacy in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ALPRs, operating at the scale that they’re operating now, with the kind of vendors that are running these systems now, are posing a direct public safety threat,” said Sarah Hamid, director of strategic campaigns at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re living in a political climate where undocumented community members are being kidnapped off the street in broad daylight, where people’s healthcare is being criminalized, people’s political speech is being criminalized, and having this much location data information about everyone who drives in this country, and where they go, and when they go there, is fundamentally unsafe,” Hamid said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Automated License Plate Readers are AI-powered cameras that capture and analyze millions of images, including vehicle location, date, time, as well as make, model, color, and details like dents and bumper stickers.[aside postID=news_12067461 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02_qed-1020x680.jpg']OPD has a \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/View-Attachment-A-7.pdf\">policy\u003c/a> outlining steps to follow when an outside agency seeks access to Oakland license plate data. Tuesday night, the council adopted a series of amendments to mollify data privacy concerns, including a “two-key” approval system requiring both the city’s Chief Privacy Officer and the OPD Information Technology Director to authorize any new data-sharing relationships, as well as quarterly independent compliance audits to be overseen by the City Auditor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communities are in full control of who they share with,” said Trevor Chandler, director of public affairs for Flock. “Some communities choose to share with no one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/11/18/oakland-police-lawsuit-license-plate-camera-flock-safety/\">recent lawsuit\u003c/a> filed against OPD, privacy advocate Brian Hofer claimed the department violated its own rules, alleging there are records of millions of external searches of Oakland’s system. Hofer recently stepped down from Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066924/oaklands-license-plate-camera-contract-is-back-up-for-a-vote-critics-are-crying-foul\">voted against\u003c/a> reupping with Flock earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hofer, who advises cities and counties across California, points out that more than 80 California cities have adopted \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sanctuary-cities\">sanctuary laws\u003c/a> limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. But those policies, he argues, often stop short of governing how police departments collect, share and audit license plate reader data, a gap he said leaves agencies vulnerable to violating state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under SB 34, California law enforcement agencies are required to adopt detailed usage and privacy policies governing ALPR data, restrict access to authorized purposes, and regularly audit searches to prevent misuse. Hofer calls many local approaches “performative,” arguing that city councils and city attorneys frequently approve surveillance programs without providing effective oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His concerns echo findings by the California \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-advises-california-law-enforcement-legal-uses-and\">Attorney General’s office\u003c/a> two years ago, after a state audit found “the majority of California law enforcement agencies collect and use images captured by ALPR cameras, but few have appropriate usage and privacy policies in place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051143\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051143\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250806-RICHMOND-POLICE-FILE-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250806-RICHMOND-POLICE-FILE-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250806-RICHMOND-POLICE-FILE-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250806-RICHMOND-POLICE-FILE-MD-03-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Richmond Police Department in Richmond on Aug. 6, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even if they do, federal laws supersede state laws. “If we get a federal court warrant, we’re still going to have to respond to it. We’re gonna still have to turn over the data,” Hofer said. “That’s why privacy folks like me are, like, don’t collect the data in the first place. Any data collected is data at risk,” Hofer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That risk is not hypothetical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few weeks ago, Richmond’s new police chief, Tim Simmons, \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/richmondpolicecali/posts/pfbid02DLgEZwDpaCE6ZEXMyYboDY4EFiQFq8axkX2SG9YE6oQFUdgQDVuHMdPwx8xzXbpel\">shut down\u003c/a> its automated license plate reader system after Flock notified the police department of a configuration error that could have allowed outside law enforcement agencies to run searches of the city’s data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the police department wrote in a Facebook post that it has no evidence any outside agency actually viewed Richmond’s data, Chief Simmons told\u003ca href=\"https://richmondside.org/2025/12/09/richmond-license-plate-reader-data-breach/\"> \u003cem>Richmondside\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, “The fact that it was made available was outside the scope of what we’ve been telling people and what has been told to us. So that was enough for me to shut the whole system down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Frichmondpolicecali%2Fposts%2Fpfbid09K5X682FuFQ3nYULeSRsezaJXJbVde1TPy4BfFEXyjQfwCZ7mqf1g9s1NWFpZq4Wl&show_text=true&width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"750\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chandler from Flock said the company has shut off out-of-state access to camera data from California law enforcement agencies. “We’re working in as proactive a way as possible to ensure that these agencies have default compliance,” he said, noting that the customers contractually own the data. Each law enforcement agency also decides how long data is stored before being deleted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Richmond officials are not alone in harboring misgivings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, Santa Cruz officials decided to \u003ca href=\"https://lookout.co/city-of-santa-cruz-pauses-statewide-license-plate-data-sharing-citing-flock-safetys-violation-of-california-law/story\">temporarily limit\u003c/a> outside agencies’ access to the city’s license plate reader data and to review its agreement with Flock. The move followed testimony from Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante, who told the city council that Flock disclosed earlier this year that it had allowed out-of-state law enforcement agencies to use a national search tool to access license plate data collected by California agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the summer, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/07/14/oakland-san-francisco-ice-license-plate-readers/\">San Francisco Standard\u003c/a> reported that OPD shared data from its camera systems with federal agencies. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/06/california-police-sharing-license-plate-reader-data/\">CalMatters reported\u003c/a> that law enforcement agencies in Southern California have shared information from automated license plate readers with federal agents as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in a recent analysis of 10 months of nationwide searches on Flock’s servers, EFF discovered more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies — including some in California — ran hundreds of searches in connection with \u003ca href=\"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/how-cops-are-using-flock-safetys-alpr-network-surveil-protesters-and-activists\">political protests\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hofer, who has sued Oakland twice over surveillance practices, said his frustration is not with Flock or its competitors in the industry. It’s with local elected officials. “They’re not connecting the dots. We are building these systems for Donald Trump. We are harvesting data for Donald Trump,” Hofer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California municipalities continue to press ahead with automated license-plate reader contracts, betting the technology’s public-safety value outweighs demonstrated risks to data privacy and civil liberties.",
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"title": "California Cities Double Down on License-Plate Readers as Federal Surveillance Grows | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Over the past decade, automated license-plate readers have quietly become a standard tool for law enforcement across \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12005347/the-east-bay-has-hundreds-of-new-surveillance-cameras-and-more-are-on-the-way\">adopted\u003c/a> by more than 200 city police departments, sheriff’s departments and other agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s despite a series of media reports \u003ca href=\"https://www.404media.co/cbp-had-access-to-more-than-80-000-flock-ai-cameras-nationwide/\">demonstrating\u003c/a> local AI-enabled ALPR databases are \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-patrol-surveillance-drivers-ice-trump-9f5d05469ce8c629d6fecf32d32098cd\">feeding\u003c/a> a federal surveillance system used by the Trump administration against immigrants and others. While a short list of municipalities in other states, including in Texas and Oregon, have responded by canceling contracts, most California officials appear to be digging their heels in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tensions at the heart of the debate were on full view at Oakland City Hall on Tuesday night. More than three hours of public comment preceded the City Council’s 7-1 vote to renew and expand the Oakland Police Department’s \u003ca href=\"https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7778357&GUID=BC9ADFD5-2714-4303-BEA4-70DF1AD489D1&Options=&Search=\">contract with Flock Safety\u003c/a>, the fastest-growing surveillance product vendor in California, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.atlasofsurveillance.org/search?location=California&sort=city_asc&technologies%5B%5D=automated-license-plate-readers&utm_source=chatgpt.com\">Electronic Frontier Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of residents spoke in favor of the $2.25 million, two-year contract, including local homeowners association representatives and small business owners. Stephanie Tran, president of Oakland’s Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, told the city council that the chamber operates more than 50 Flock cameras in the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These community-led systems have supported over 100 cases of investigations, from robberies to arson, car accidents, theft, break-ins and homicide,” Tran said. As part of the contract approved by the city council, the chamber will be able to continue sharing its Flock system data with the police department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other Oakland residents argued that the federal government’s data-enabled immigration crackdown trumps local crime concerns. “This surveillance technology has already caused harm in our communities, and all over the country,” said Alberto Parra of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.acceaction.org\">Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action\u003c/a>, speaking in Spanish. “Oakland residents should not fear driving to work, church, or school, knowing that this data is going to be fed to a national system that’s accessible to ICE.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066779\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066779\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-License-Plate-Readers-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1504\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-License-Plate-Readers-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-License-Plate-Readers-02-KQED-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-License-Plate-Readers-02-KQED-1536x1155.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Law enforcement agencies across California have widely adopted automated license-plate readers to fight crime, but civil-rights advocates warn these surveillance networks also serve as data troves that can be accessed far beyond state borders. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Flock Safety)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Civil liberties advocates have sued both Oakland and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064587/civil-liberties-groups-sue-san-jose-over-license-plate-reader-use\">San José\u003c/a>, alleging their use of automated license plate readers amounts to a “deeply invasive” mass surveillance system that violates residents’ rights to privacy in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ALPRs, operating at the scale that they’re operating now, with the kind of vendors that are running these systems now, are posing a direct public safety threat,” said Sarah Hamid, director of strategic campaigns at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re living in a political climate where undocumented community members are being kidnapped off the street in broad daylight, where people’s healthcare is being criminalized, people’s political speech is being criminalized, and having this much location data information about everyone who drives in this country, and where they go, and when they go there, is fundamentally unsafe,” Hamid said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Automated License Plate Readers are AI-powered cameras that capture and analyze millions of images, including vehicle location, date, time, as well as make, model, color, and details like dents and bumper stickers.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>OPD has a \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/View-Attachment-A-7.pdf\">policy\u003c/a> outlining steps to follow when an outside agency seeks access to Oakland license plate data. Tuesday night, the council adopted a series of amendments to mollify data privacy concerns, including a “two-key” approval system requiring both the city’s Chief Privacy Officer and the OPD Information Technology Director to authorize any new data-sharing relationships, as well as quarterly independent compliance audits to be overseen by the City Auditor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communities are in full control of who they share with,” said Trevor Chandler, director of public affairs for Flock. “Some communities choose to share with no one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/11/18/oakland-police-lawsuit-license-plate-camera-flock-safety/\">recent lawsuit\u003c/a> filed against OPD, privacy advocate Brian Hofer claimed the department violated its own rules, alleging there are records of millions of external searches of Oakland’s system. Hofer recently stepped down from Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066924/oaklands-license-plate-camera-contract-is-back-up-for-a-vote-critics-are-crying-foul\">voted against\u003c/a> reupping with Flock earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hofer, who advises cities and counties across California, points out that more than 80 California cities have adopted \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sanctuary-cities\">sanctuary laws\u003c/a> limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. But those policies, he argues, often stop short of governing how police departments collect, share and audit license plate reader data, a gap he said leaves agencies vulnerable to violating state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under SB 34, California law enforcement agencies are required to adopt detailed usage and privacy policies governing ALPR data, restrict access to authorized purposes, and regularly audit searches to prevent misuse. Hofer calls many local approaches “performative,” arguing that city councils and city attorneys frequently approve surveillance programs without providing effective oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His concerns echo findings by the California \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-advises-california-law-enforcement-legal-uses-and\">Attorney General’s office\u003c/a> two years ago, after a state audit found “the majority of California law enforcement agencies collect and use images captured by ALPR cameras, but few have appropriate usage and privacy policies in place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051143\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051143\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250806-RICHMOND-POLICE-FILE-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250806-RICHMOND-POLICE-FILE-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250806-RICHMOND-POLICE-FILE-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250806-RICHMOND-POLICE-FILE-MD-03-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Richmond Police Department in Richmond on Aug. 6, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even if they do, federal laws supersede state laws. “If we get a federal court warrant, we’re still going to have to respond to it. We’re gonna still have to turn over the data,” Hofer said. “That’s why privacy folks like me are, like, don’t collect the data in the first place. Any data collected is data at risk,” Hofer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That risk is not hypothetical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few weeks ago, Richmond’s new police chief, Tim Simmons, \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/richmondpolicecali/posts/pfbid02DLgEZwDpaCE6ZEXMyYboDY4EFiQFq8axkX2SG9YE6oQFUdgQDVuHMdPwx8xzXbpel\">shut down\u003c/a> its automated license plate reader system after Flock notified the police department of a configuration error that could have allowed outside law enforcement agencies to run searches of the city’s data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the police department wrote in a Facebook post that it has no evidence any outside agency actually viewed Richmond’s data, Chief Simmons told\u003ca href=\"https://richmondside.org/2025/12/09/richmond-license-plate-reader-data-breach/\"> \u003cem>Richmondside\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, “The fact that it was made available was outside the scope of what we’ve been telling people and what has been told to us. So that was enough for me to shut the whole system down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Frichmondpolicecali%2Fposts%2Fpfbid09K5X682FuFQ3nYULeSRsezaJXJbVde1TPy4BfFEXyjQfwCZ7mqf1g9s1NWFpZq4Wl&show_text=true&width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"750\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chandler from Flock said the company has shut off out-of-state access to camera data from California law enforcement agencies. “We’re working in as proactive a way as possible to ensure that these agencies have default compliance,” he said, noting that the customers contractually own the data. Each law enforcement agency also decides how long data is stored before being deleted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Richmond officials are not alone in harboring misgivings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, Santa Cruz officials decided to \u003ca href=\"https://lookout.co/city-of-santa-cruz-pauses-statewide-license-plate-data-sharing-citing-flock-safetys-violation-of-california-law/story\">temporarily limit\u003c/a> outside agencies’ access to the city’s license plate reader data and to review its agreement with Flock. The move followed testimony from Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante, who told the city council that Flock disclosed earlier this year that it had allowed out-of-state law enforcement agencies to use a national search tool to access license plate data collected by California agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the summer, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/07/14/oakland-san-francisco-ice-license-plate-readers/\">San Francisco Standard\u003c/a> reported that OPD shared data from its camera systems with federal agencies. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/06/california-police-sharing-license-plate-reader-data/\">CalMatters reported\u003c/a> that law enforcement agencies in Southern California have shared information from automated license plate readers with federal agents as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in a recent analysis of 10 months of nationwide searches on Flock’s servers, EFF discovered more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies — including some in California — ran hundreds of searches in connection with \u003ca href=\"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/how-cops-are-using-flock-safetys-alpr-network-surveil-protesters-and-activists\">political protests\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hofer, who has sued Oakland twice over surveillance practices, said his frustration is not with Flock or its competitors in the industry. It’s with local elected officials. “They’re not connecting the dots. We are building these systems for Donald Trump. We are harvesting data for Donald Trump,” Hofer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The Oakland City Council voted Tuesday to expand the city’s network of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/flock-safety\">automated license plate reader cameras\u003c/a>, overriding strong objections from privacy advocates who warned the move could expose residents to federal surveillance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 7-1 vote approves a new two-year, $2.25 million \u003ca href=\"https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7778357&GUID=BC9ADFD5-2714-4303-BEA4-70DF1AD489D1&Options=&Search=\">contract\u003c/a> with Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based technology firm that holds major contracts in over 40 Bay Area cities. It came at the end of a contentious meeting that drew more than 140 public speakers and stretched late into the evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deal allows the Oakland Police Department to maintain its existing network of 291 cameras and add 40 new “pan-tilt-zoom” cameras to monitor high-traffic corridors and illegal dumping sites. The new terms go into effect immediately and prevent the existing camera network from going dark on Jan. 1, when the previous authorization was set to expire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This system makes the Department more efficient as it allows for information related to disruptive/violent criminal activities to be captured … and allows for precise and focused enforcement,” OPD wrote in its proposal to the council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While supporters argued the technology is a vital “resource multiplier” for an understaffed police force, some critics blasted the council for what they called an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066924/oaklands-license-plate-camera-contract-is-back-up-for-a-vote-critics-are-crying-foul\">“undemocratic” and “backdoor” process\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s vote was particularly charged because the Public Safety Committee had previously deadlocked on the contract last month. However, just last week, the Rules Committee fast-tracked the item to the full council, a move that privacy groups said was designed to bypass committee-level opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11984097\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11984097\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A man with a fluorescent yellow coat holds a black machine.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Flock Safety worker holds up a new automated license plate reader that was being installed in East San José on April 23, 2024. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Councilmember Carroll Fife, the sole “no” vote on Tuesday, criticized her colleagues for advancing a contract with a company that has faced national scrutiny over data sharing with federal entities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know how we get up and have several press conferences talking about how we are supportive of a sanctuary city status, but then use a vendor that has been shown to have a direct relationship with Border Control,” Fife said from the dais. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/07/14/oakland-san-francisco-ice-license-plate-readers/\">\u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported that federal agencies had accessed data from Oakland’s cameras. Last month, the city of Richmond deactivated its own camera network after discovering that federal officials could search their database.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Police Department, meanwhile, has defended the technology as an essential tool for solving violent crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lt. Gabriel Urquiza told the council that since the cameras were first deployed in July 2024, the system has led to 232 arrests and the recovery of 68 firearms. Department data shows carjackings dropped from an average of 40 per month before the cameras were installed to 17 per month in 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036580\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036580\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland City Hall in downtown Oakland on Aug. 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To address privacy concerns, the council adopted a series of amendments proposed by Councilmembers Charlene Wang and Rowena Brown. The new contract includes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>A strict prohibition on sharing data with federal immigration agencies or out-of-state law enforcement for the purpose of investigating reproductive health care or gender-affirming care.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A “two-key” approval system requiring both the city’s chief privacy officer and the OPD information technology director to authorize any new data-sharing relationships.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A mandate for quarterly independent compliance audits overseen by the city auditor.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A requirement that the city begin a request for proposal process within 18 months to identify potential alternative vendors, preventing an automatic renewal with Flock.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Many of the provisions, such as the prohibition on sharing data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or for out-of-state abortion investigations, reiterate existing Oakland sanctuary policies and California state law.[aside postID=news_12066924 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/SFLicensePlateReader-1020x675.jpg']“My goal is to ensure that Oakland’s legislation is fully aligned with state law, as well as the essential protections that are needed in the policy,” Brown said. “I do want to minimize the potential risk this technology presents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate highlighted deep divisions within the city. While privacy advocates dominated much of the public comment during Tuesday’s meeting, many business owners from Chinatown and Little Saigon urged the council to pass the measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to have cameras in order to protect the merchants so they feel safe and can open longer hours,” said Josephine Hui, member of the Toishan-Oakland Chinatown Patrol Team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, opponents argued that the system’s potential for abuse outweighed its benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why don’t we really prevent crime by funding [the Department of Violence Prevention]? Violence prevention programs have been proven to stop crime,” said Hannah Zuckerman, a District 2 resident. “We do not need data being shared, and license plate data is personal data.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the city-funded network is expanding, some neighborhoods are not waiting for municipal action. Residents in the foothills Oakmore neighborhood recently fundraised to install their own private Flock cameras to assist OPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Oakland City Council voted Tuesday to expand the city’s network of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/flock-safety\">automated license plate reader cameras\u003c/a>, overriding strong objections from privacy advocates who warned the move could expose residents to federal surveillance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 7-1 vote approves a new two-year, $2.25 million \u003ca href=\"https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7778357&GUID=BC9ADFD5-2714-4303-BEA4-70DF1AD489D1&Options=&Search=\">contract\u003c/a> with Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based technology firm that holds major contracts in over 40 Bay Area cities. It came at the end of a contentious meeting that drew more than 140 public speakers and stretched late into the evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deal allows the Oakland Police Department to maintain its existing network of 291 cameras and add 40 new “pan-tilt-zoom” cameras to monitor high-traffic corridors and illegal dumping sites. The new terms go into effect immediately and prevent the existing camera network from going dark on Jan. 1, when the previous authorization was set to expire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This system makes the Department more efficient as it allows for information related to disruptive/violent criminal activities to be captured … and allows for precise and focused enforcement,” OPD wrote in its proposal to the council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While supporters argued the technology is a vital “resource multiplier” for an understaffed police force, some critics blasted the council for what they called an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066924/oaklands-license-plate-camera-contract-is-back-up-for-a-vote-critics-are-crying-foul\">“undemocratic” and “backdoor” process\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s vote was particularly charged because the Public Safety Committee had previously deadlocked on the contract last month. However, just last week, the Rules Committee fast-tracked the item to the full council, a move that privacy groups said was designed to bypass committee-level opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11984097\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11984097\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A man with a fluorescent yellow coat holds a black machine.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Flock Safety worker holds up a new automated license plate reader that was being installed in East San José on April 23, 2024. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Councilmember Carroll Fife, the sole “no” vote on Tuesday, criticized her colleagues for advancing a contract with a company that has faced national scrutiny over data sharing with federal entities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know how we get up and have several press conferences talking about how we are supportive of a sanctuary city status, but then use a vendor that has been shown to have a direct relationship with Border Control,” Fife said from the dais. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/07/14/oakland-san-francisco-ice-license-plate-readers/\">\u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported that federal agencies had accessed data from Oakland’s cameras. Last month, the city of Richmond deactivated its own camera network after discovering that federal officials could search their database.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Police Department, meanwhile, has defended the technology as an essential tool for solving violent crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lt. Gabriel Urquiza told the council that since the cameras were first deployed in July 2024, the system has led to 232 arrests and the recovery of 68 firearms. Department data shows carjackings dropped from an average of 40 per month before the cameras were installed to 17 per month in 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036580\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036580\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230802-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-MHN-07_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland City Hall in downtown Oakland on Aug. 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To address privacy concerns, the council adopted a series of amendments proposed by Councilmembers Charlene Wang and Rowena Brown. The new contract includes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>A strict prohibition on sharing data with federal immigration agencies or out-of-state law enforcement for the purpose of investigating reproductive health care or gender-affirming care.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A “two-key” approval system requiring both the city’s chief privacy officer and the OPD information technology director to authorize any new data-sharing relationships.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A mandate for quarterly independent compliance audits overseen by the city auditor.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A requirement that the city begin a request for proposal process within 18 months to identify potential alternative vendors, preventing an automatic renewal with Flock.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Many of the provisions, such as the prohibition on sharing data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or for out-of-state abortion investigations, reiterate existing Oakland sanctuary policies and California state law.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“My goal is to ensure that Oakland’s legislation is fully aligned with state law, as well as the essential protections that are needed in the policy,” Brown said. “I do want to minimize the potential risk this technology presents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate highlighted deep divisions within the city. While privacy advocates dominated much of the public comment during Tuesday’s meeting, many business owners from Chinatown and Little Saigon urged the council to pass the measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to have cameras in order to protect the merchants so they feel safe and can open longer hours,” said Josephine Hui, member of the Toishan-Oakland Chinatown Patrol Team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, opponents argued that the system’s potential for abuse outweighed its benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why don’t we really prevent crime by funding [the Department of Violence Prevention]? Violence prevention programs have been proven to stop crime,” said Hannah Zuckerman, a District 2 resident. “We do not need data being shared, and license plate data is personal data.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the city-funded network is expanding, some neighborhoods are not waiting for municipal action. Residents in the foothills Oakmore neighborhood recently fundraised to install their own private Flock cameras to assist OPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oaklands-license-plate-camera-contract-is-back-up-for-a-vote-critics-are-crying-foul",
"title": "Oakland’s License Plate Camera Contract Is Back Up for a Vote. Critics Are Crying Foul",
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"headTitle": "Oakland’s License Plate Camera Contract Is Back Up for a Vote. Critics Are Crying Foul | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Oakland’s City Council will vote next week on a controversial \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12005347/the-east-bay-has-hundreds-of-new-surveillance-cameras-and-more-are-on-the-way\">surveillance technology contract\u003c/a>, just weeks after it failed to advance out of committee amid concerns over the company’s data-sharing practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Police Department’s proposal to extend the contract with Flock Safety, which operates nearly 300 automatic license plate reader cameras across the city, did not pass a vote in the council’s Public Safety Committee last month. But this week, it was brought back before the Rules Committee, which moved it forward on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m deeply concerned that this process feels like it lacks transparency and democracy,” Councilmember Carroll Fife said. “This item failed in committee and should go back to committee and be deliberated in that space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Lance Wilson, policy and communications director at the Anti Police-Terror Project, the contract was only added to the Rules Committee meeting agenda on Wednesday afternoon, “with less than 24 hours’ notice to the public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called the committee’s decision to revive a contract vote by the council “stunning and undemocratic,” saying more than 4,000 Oakland residents have urged the council to vote no on Flock expansion, and more than 40 organizations, including the ACLU of Northern California and multiple local unions, submitted a joint letter warning that approving the contract would hurt immigrants, communities of color and unhoused residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fife and many residents had spoken out against granting a new two-year contract to the Atlanta-based company. The city’s volunteer Privacy Advisory Commission also refused to endorse OPD’s contract plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Privacy advocates have long had \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064587/civil-liberties-groups-sue-san-jose-over-license-plate-reader-use\">concerns about the amount of data\u003c/a> stored, collected and shared by Flock, but its technology has come under increased scrutiny in recent months after reports revealed that its searchable license plate database has been used to aid federal investigations, including by the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State law prohibits local law enforcement from sharing automated license plate data with out-of-state and federal agencies, and Oakland’s sanctuary city policy bars police and city officials from aiding in immigration enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the summer, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/07/14/oakland-san-francisco-ice-license-plate-readers/\">\u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported that OPD’s data was accessed on behalf of federal agencies, and just last month, Richmond shut down its network of cameras after discovering that the data they captured was searchable by federal agencies, despite believing it was for internal use only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, the nonprofit Secure Justice and its leader, Brian Hofer, sued Oakland over the reports of data sharing. The suit alleges that the department’s data was made accessible to at least six federal agencies and a number of non-California state and local agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A month prior, Attorney General Rob Bonta \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-sues-el-cajon-illegally-sharing-license-plate-data-out\">sued the city of El Cajon\u003c/a> in San Diego County over similar Flock data sharing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11984097\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11984097\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A man with a fluorescent yellow coat holds a black machine.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Flock Safety worker holds up a new automated license plate reader that was being installed in East San José on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As part of Flock’s services, it offers contracted agencies multiple data sharing options: a “National Lookup,” which allows two-way access to data between all Flock Safety customers who have opted in; a “State Lookup,” which creates a similar arrangement with other Flock customers only in their home state; and a 1:1 sharing option, which requires customers to add agencies they would like to share data with individually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland has previously said that its license-plate reader data would not be made accessible outside OPD due to privacy concerns, but city documents show that the data was made accessible and shared with at least six federal and a number of non-California state and local agencies, according to Hofer’s lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city has been using a network of 290 Flock cameras along highways and high-traffic areas to aid in police investigations since March 2024. Around the same time, departments across the Bay Area \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989977/san-franciscos-new-license-plate-readers-are-leading-to-arrests-and-concerns-about-privacy\">entered similar contracts\u003c/a> with Flock as part of a push to crack down on crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12064587 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, OPD proposed a two-year, $2.25 million contract for Flock to maintain the existing camera network and allow police to access private cameras in the company’s system when the current contract ends in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The four-member Public Safety Committee deadlocked, with Councilmembers Charlene Wang and Ken Houston voting in favor and Councilmembers Rowena Brown and Fife voting against it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the meeting, Fife said she feared the data “falling into the hands of bad actors that have a track record” of working with agencies involved in immigration enforcement. She suggested that the department consider other vendors who could provide similar technology to use instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the proposal was brought back to the Rules Committee this week, Councilmembers Kevin Jenkins and Janani Ramachandran, along with Brown, voted in favor of agendizing the contract vote, while Fife lodged the sole vote against.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe that we can use cameras for public safety tools, but this vendor has shown time and time again that they will just thwart the rule of law in cities and states all over the nation,” Fife said Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In public comment during Thursday’s meeting, Councilmember Houston voiced support for the plan, and representatives from Councilmember Zac Unger and Wang’s office also supported moving the vote forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s slated for a vote at the full council on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Oakland’s City Council will vote next week on a controversial \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12005347/the-east-bay-has-hundreds-of-new-surveillance-cameras-and-more-are-on-the-way\">surveillance technology contract\u003c/a>, just weeks after it failed to advance out of committee amid concerns over the company’s data-sharing practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Police Department’s proposal to extend the contract with Flock Safety, which operates nearly 300 automatic license plate reader cameras across the city, did not pass a vote in the council’s Public Safety Committee last month. But this week, it was brought back before the Rules Committee, which moved it forward on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m deeply concerned that this process feels like it lacks transparency and democracy,” Councilmember Carroll Fife said. “This item failed in committee and should go back to committee and be deliberated in that space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Lance Wilson, policy and communications director at the Anti Police-Terror Project, the contract was only added to the Rules Committee meeting agenda on Wednesday afternoon, “with less than 24 hours’ notice to the public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called the committee’s decision to revive a contract vote by the council “stunning and undemocratic,” saying more than 4,000 Oakland residents have urged the council to vote no on Flock expansion, and more than 40 organizations, including the ACLU of Northern California and multiple local unions, submitted a joint letter warning that approving the contract would hurt immigrants, communities of color and unhoused residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fife and many residents had spoken out against granting a new two-year contract to the Atlanta-based company. The city’s volunteer Privacy Advisory Commission also refused to endorse OPD’s contract plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Privacy advocates have long had \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064587/civil-liberties-groups-sue-san-jose-over-license-plate-reader-use\">concerns about the amount of data\u003c/a> stored, collected and shared by Flock, but its technology has come under increased scrutiny in recent months after reports revealed that its searchable license plate database has been used to aid federal investigations, including by the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State law prohibits local law enforcement from sharing automated license plate data with out-of-state and federal agencies, and Oakland’s sanctuary city policy bars police and city officials from aiding in immigration enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the summer, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/07/14/oakland-san-francisco-ice-license-plate-readers/\">\u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported that OPD’s data was accessed on behalf of federal agencies, and just last month, Richmond shut down its network of cameras after discovering that the data they captured was searchable by federal agencies, despite believing it was for internal use only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, the nonprofit Secure Justice and its leader, Brian Hofer, sued Oakland over the reports of data sharing. The suit alleges that the department’s data was made accessible to at least six federal agencies and a number of non-California state and local agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A month prior, Attorney General Rob Bonta \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-sues-el-cajon-illegally-sharing-license-plate-data-out\">sued the city of El Cajon\u003c/a> in San Diego County over similar Flock data sharing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11984097\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11984097\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A man with a fluorescent yellow coat holds a black machine.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/SAN-JOSE-LICENSE-PLATE-READERS-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Flock Safety worker holds up a new automated license plate reader that was being installed in East San José on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As part of Flock’s services, it offers contracted agencies multiple data sharing options: a “National Lookup,” which allows two-way access to data between all Flock Safety customers who have opted in; a “State Lookup,” which creates a similar arrangement with other Flock customers only in their home state; and a 1:1 sharing option, which requires customers to add agencies they would like to share data with individually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland has previously said that its license-plate reader data would not be made accessible outside OPD due to privacy concerns, but city documents show that the data was made accessible and shared with at least six federal and a number of non-California state and local agencies, according to Hofer’s lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city has been using a network of 290 Flock cameras along highways and high-traffic areas to aid in police investigations since March 2024. Around the same time, departments across the Bay Area \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989977/san-franciscos-new-license-plate-readers-are-leading-to-arrests-and-concerns-about-privacy\">entered similar contracts\u003c/a> with Flock as part of a push to crack down on crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, OPD proposed a two-year, $2.25 million contract for Flock to maintain the existing camera network and allow police to access private cameras in the company’s system when the current contract ends in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The four-member Public Safety Committee deadlocked, with Councilmembers Charlene Wang and Ken Houston voting in favor and Councilmembers Rowena Brown and Fife voting against it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the meeting, Fife said she feared the data “falling into the hands of bad actors that have a track record” of working with agencies involved in immigration enforcement. She suggested that the department consider other vendors who could provide similar technology to use instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the proposal was brought back to the Rules Committee this week, Councilmembers Kevin Jenkins and Janani Ramachandran, along with Brown, voted in favor of agendizing the contract vote, while Fife lodged the sole vote against.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe that we can use cameras for public safety tools, but this vendor has shown time and time again that they will just thwart the rule of law in cities and states all over the nation,” Fife said Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In public comment during Thursday’s meeting, Councilmember Houston voiced support for the plan, and representatives from Councilmember Zac Unger and Wang’s office also supported moving the vote forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s slated for a vote at the full council on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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},
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"id": "city-arts",
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"meta": {
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"source": "WNYC"
},
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
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"source": "NPR"
},
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
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},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"meta": {
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
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"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
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"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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