Articles
What the Flock?
An index of reporting, court records, and public filings showing what happens beyond Flock's public-safety claims. These are the documented problems, mistakes, and abuses that can be easy to miss when the story comes only from the vendor or the agencies using the cameras.
14 articles · RSS
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Cops Warned to Look for ‘Suspicious Behavior’ From People Opposing Flock at City Council Meetings
404media.co
A July bulletin from the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center, obtained through a public records request, told California police that city council meetings about Flock cameras could be seen as a target by extremists while stating no specific or credible threats were found. The document listed large turnout, emotional confrontations, media presence, and social media amplification among potential public safety risks.
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Fullerton Council Votes 3–1 to Switch Off Flock License Plate Cameras for Six Months
fullertonobserver.com
The Fullerton City Council voted 3-1 to suspend the city's 19 Flock Safety license plate cameras for six months while it holds a town hall and reviews police ALPR policy. Police Chief Jon Radus said the program costs about $51,000 a year, retains images 30 days, and gives 135 personnel accounts, but the department has not formally tracked how often Flock contributed to solved cases.
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Local ACLU Foundation sues city of San Diego, police department over use of Flock cameras
kpbs.org
The ACLU Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties, representing the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, sued the city and its police department over Flock Safety license plate readers, arguing they violate the California constitution's privacy guarantee. The suit seeks removal of the cameras and deletion of collected data. The article notes SDPD halted federal data sharing in 2025 after guidance from the state attorney general.
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California communities rethink Flock cameras over privacy concerns
spectrumlocalnews.com
Advocacy group DeFlock Sac Metro is campaigning against automated license plate readers in the Sacramento area, and Folsom is discontinuing its Flock contract while continuing to use Motorola plate readers. Secure Justice counts at least 19 California communities and more than 200 nationwide dropping Flock since 2021. Stockton heard that an officer was dismissed for misusing its Flock system. Flock cited new safeguards including seven-day default retention, and a University of South Carolina study found ALPRs cut vehicle thefts by 11%.
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SF Keeps Flock Cameras After 1.6M Illegal Queries: New Rules Weaker Than Company Standard
techtimes.com
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie imposed new rules on the city's roughly 500 Flock cameras, cutting vendor data retention from 12 months to 30 days, four times longer than Flock's own new seven-day default. The city kept its contract despite 1.6 million out-of-state queries of SFPD's database. Assemblymember Matt Haney plans a bill criminalizing ALPR misuse, which California law currently does not penalize.
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Watsonville City Council limits Flock cameras
pajaronian.com
The Watsonville City Council voted 4-3 to remove 17 of its 37 Flock cameras, cut data retention from 30 days to seven and end sharing with other California police agencies. The city will also commission a third-party audit and hold a town hall. Police said Flock assisted in 894 cases, though the chief estimated about six were primarily solved with it. Monterey County voted the same day to remove its 63 cameras.
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Flock data-sharing suit likely headed back to state court
courthousenews.com
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said he was inclined to find that California drivers suing Flock lack Article III standing, but also indicated he would likely remand the consolidated cases to state court. Plaintiffs argue Flock let out-of-state agencies search local ALPR databases, citing 1.6 million searches of San Francisco police data between August 2024 and February 2025, in violation of the 2015 California ALPR Privacy Act.
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County supervisors vote to take down all sheriff's Flock cameras
montereycountynow.com
Monterey County supervisors voted 3-2 to decline a proposed $1.7 million, 10-year Flock Safety contract and directed the Sheriff's Office to end access to 63 cameras and remove them within 60 days. Deputies had queried the system nearly 20,000 times in a year, with an estimated 500,000 queries by partner agencies. Officials cited earlier improper out-of-state access; the sheriff and district attorney defended the technology.
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Fusion Center Ran Flock Searches on Behalf of Feds, Santa Ana Records Show
couriercalifornia.com
Logs released by Santa Ana police show the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center ran more than 27,000 searches of the city's Flock ALPR network over six months, including at least eighty on behalf of federal agencies such as the FBI, ATF, DEA, US Marshals, IRS and Forest Service, plus an agency in Washington state. California law bars sharing ALPR data with federal and out-of-state agencies. The logs omit usernames and case numbers, and no promised efficacy audit exists.
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In one California town, Flock misread license plates in 71% of the alerts it sent to police
businessinsider.com
Public records obtained from the Roseville, California police department show that of 1,427 Flock alerts flagging vehicles as stolen or felony-related in 2023 and 2024, a department analysis found 71% involved misread plates. Records document missed vehicles, blurry images, and delayed alerts, with repeated complaints to Flock. Flock attributed problems to Roseville's atypical camera setup; state lawmakers called for a reliability review.
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Flock Cameras Got the Wrong License Plate 71% of the Time in California City
gizmodo.com
An analysis reported by Business Insider found that of 1,427 Flock camera alerts sent to Roseville, California police between 2023 and 2024, 71% of stolen-vehicle or felony-related alerts involved misread plates. Flock attributed the errors to older hardware and non-standard camera placement, a claim Roseville police dispute. The city has spent roughly $450,000; the Institute for Justice has documented at least 27 wrongful stops nationally.
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California cops are breaking surveillance laws. Who's going to stop them?
sfstandard.com
The Attorney General's office has sent warning letters to at least twenty California agencies since June 2024 without going to court, and agencies kept sharing anyway. The California Highway Patrol ran an April search across 845 ALPR systems labeled "ICE case," and Sacramento County logged searches marked "DEA Assist" and "ATF" months after being warned.
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California police illegally share license plate reader data with ICE and Border Patrol
calmatters.org
Records obtained by Oakland Privacy showed California agencies breaking SB 34 more than 100 times in a single month by running plate searches for ICE and Customs and Border Protection, including the LAPD and the San Diego, Orange, and Riverside county sheriffs. Of 491,000 queries analyzed, more than 64,000 gave only a vague reason such as "investigation."
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VICTORY! California Department of Justice Declares Out-of-State Sharing of License Plate Data Unlawful
eff.org
Attorney General Rob Bonta issued guidance confirming that SB 34 bars California police from sharing license plate data with out-of-state or federal agencies. EFF notes agencies had been sharing with hundreds of out-of-state agencies, including in states restricting abortion, and with CBP and ICE, and that over 99.9% of collected data connects to no crime.