Law-abiding Elk Grove, California residents’ movements are continuously tracked and recorded by local police—and shared in ways that appear to violate state law.

Let’s DeFlock Elk Grove!

DeFlock Elk Grove is a local movement that believes that constant surveillance does not make us safer. Enter your email to receive updates and calls to action!

We are calling on Elk Grove to:

• Cancel the Flock Safety contract and do not seek a replacement ALPR vendor. Our city should not continue to contract with a company that has facilitated illegal sharing of our data more than 1.3 million times, putting our safety and privacy at risk. Additionally, our community members should not be subject to warrantless mass surveillance by an alternate vendor.

• Publicly release Elk Grove’s Flock audit data from 2021 to current day, including search reasons. This will allow all community members to see how and why our data are being searched and shared.

• Submit a formal request to the California State Auditor asking them to do a comprehensive audit of all of the searches of Elk Grove’s ALPR camera data from the start of the program in 2021 through current day. If the Flock ALPR contract has not already been canceled, pause the contract until the results of the audit are complete and cover the cameras in the City with opaque bags to prevent their use during the pause. Then, hold accountable any individuals that are found by California State Auditor to have used the system in violation of any laws.

• Hold a full public hearing on ALL surveillance technology policies in Elk Grove, giving residents the opportunity to ask questions and share concerns. This data is our data, and it’s important that all of us have a say in its acquisition and use. The City of Elk Grove needs to be as open and transparent as possible about what happens with surveillance in our community.

Concerns about Flock ALPRs in Elk Grove:

• Legal Violations and California Senate Bill 34 (SB 34). SB 34 explicitly prohibits sharing automated license plate reader (ALPR) data with federal and out-of-state agencies as well as non-governmental organizations. The recent Community Audit of Elk Grove’s Flock data uncovered sharing in apparent violation of SB 34 with more than 1.3 million searches by those types of entities. This is a violation of our legal rights, and it raises legal and financial risks for the City of Elk Grove. These types of violations can carry a $2,500 penalty, per search, if successfully litigated. In California, lawsuits are currently underway against the cities of Oakland and San Jose.

• Lack of Accountability to the Public: Despite many residents’ concerns, on April 8, 2026, the Elk Grove City Council voted unanimously to expand the Flock Safety contract to modify the number of camera systems, replace some standard Flock cameras with long-distance cameras, and reassess camera locations. To do this, the City Council amended Flock’s contract for the sixth time to increase the cost by $194,100, for a total contract value of $1,630,808. They did this on the “consent calendar,” which meant there was no public hearing and most of the community had no idea this was taking place. Government surveillance of our residents deserves a full public hearing.

• Lack of Transparency with Public Records. When residents submitted formal requests for the Flock audit data, the Elk Grove Police Department (Elk Grove PD) redacted all of the search reasons from the data it provided, despite the Elk Grove PD’s own training briefs stating that audit reasons are subject to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) and California Public Records Act (PRA). Elk Grove PD should make public the reasons why it and other entities are searching our data. Anyone who has used the system unlawfully should be held accountable.

• Immigrant Community Impact and California Senate Bill 54 (SB 54): Residents found that some Flock camera data searches in Elk Grove hit both Woodland and Elk Grove data. Because Woodland PD did not redact the reasons for searches in their public disclosures, residents were able to discover the reasons for some searches of Elk Grove data. Some of those searches, made by Elk Grove PD and outside entities, appear to be for immigration enforcement (that is, ICE) and immigration agency assistance. When federal immigration agencies can access location data in violation of California law, sanctuary city protections become meaningless. Elk Grove is an incredibly diverse city with a large share of immigrants. Elk Grove’s immigrant families deserve better.

• ALPR Systems Are Highly Susceptible to Misuse, Including for Stalking. News reports from around the country have repeatedly detailed police abusing ALPR surveillance systems to stalk their partners, ex-partners, and romantic interests. A recent report identified at least 24 cases nationwide of officers using ALPRs to stalk romantic interests over the past two years. This kind of system is dangerous for our community, especially for women and girls.

• ALPR “Mis-Reads” Result in Wrongful Arrests and Police Brutality. ALPR “mis-reads” have incorrectly identified vehicles as stolen in multiple instances, resulting in innocent people being pulled over at gunpoint and even being assaulted by police officers and police dogs. Elk Grove PD’s ALPR Policy does not require that license plates flagged by the system are verified before officers are dispatched. The policy says that “if practible” the flagged plate “should” be verified. This kind of inadequate policy language creates loopholes that put us all at risk of serious injury or even death.

• Flock Safety Has Proven They Cannot Keep Our Data Secure. Reports have shown Flock cameras are vulnerable to hacking in under a minute, using simple tools. As recently as 2025, Flock Safety has had cameras streaming live to the internet with no password required, accessible to the public. Regardless of which specific type of Flock cameras this occurred with, the fact that Flock Safety has a history of inadequate security protocols should be a major concern for City officials tasked with protecting the security and privacy of Elk Grove residents. Flock Safety representatives routinely provide police departments with talking points aimed at dismissing these claims. But the extensive reporting on these issues is readily available for the public and local government decision makers to read.

• Other Cities Are Acting: Across the country, more than 100 jurisdictions have canceled their Flock ALPR contracts. In California, the following locations have canceled their contracts: El Cerrito, Lakewood, Campbell, Mountain View, Oxnard, Santa Clara County, Windsor, Los Altos Hills, Eureka, and Santa Cruz. Elk Grove should join them!