Flock Safety is Not Safe for Elk Grove
Elk Grove contracts with Flock Safety, a surveillance company that operates Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras throughout our city. These cameras photograph every vehicle that passes, logging license plates, vehicle characteristics, and location data into a massive, searchable database. But, Flock Safety systems have violated California state laws SB 34 and SB 54 in multiple cities across the state.
Flock Safety systems have violated California state laws
SB 34 and SB 54.
California Senate Bill 34 explicitly prohibits California state and local law enforcement agencies from sharing ALPR data with private entities, or out-of-state or federal agencies, including out-of-state and federal law enforcement agencies. California Senate Bill 54 prevents state and local law enforcement agencies from using their resources on behalf of federal immigration enforcement agencies.
Flock Safety systems have violated these laws in multiple California cities including Mountain View, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz, which had more than 4,000 immigration searches discovered in the data.
A recent audit in Woodland found more than 3,000 out-of-state organizations directly accessed their Flock data. In addition, Woodland found that agencies searched their data more than 4,500 times with “immigration” search terms.
Although Elk Grove PD has stated that they do routine internal audits, this could still happen here in Elk Grove.
Flock data is also being shared through “side door” access where local police agencies perform Flock searches on behalf of CBP or ICE and share the results informally. This has been reported by CalMatters for several agencies in southern California, including agencies from counties that have access to Elk Grove data – the Counties of Orange and Riverside.
The problem is NOT whether Elk Grove INTENDS to share data, it’s that Flock’s system design enables federal access without the city knowing.
Flock Safety has documented security vulnerabilities that could expose our data.
Senator Ron Wyden’s investigation in November 2025 found at that time Flock didn’t require multi-factor authentication. At least 35 customer account passwords were stolen by hackers and were being sold online.
And at one point, Flock cameras and administrator dashboards could be accessed by the public. From a cybersecurity perspective, this is inexcusable.
Cities are canceling Flock Safety contracts.
Last month NPR reported that since the beginning of 2025, more than 30 cities across the country have already terminated their contracts with Flock Safety specifically because of these issues. Elk Grove should join them.
Elk Grove technology should serve Elk Grove.
If the city’s residents agree that ALPR camera benefits outweigh the risks to personal privacy, the city should contract with a company that does not violate California law.
It should be an ALPR system that can only be searched by Elk Grove PD for a specific crime, after obtaining a warrant AND one where the data is not accessible to agencies outside of Elk Grove.
We are asking the City Council to:
- Release Elk Grove’s Flock audit data publicly
- Commission an independent audit to verify no federal agency access has occurred
- Suspend the Flock Safety contract pending that investigation
- Research alternative ALPR vendors with proven local control and California law compliance, and
- Hold a full public hearing on surveillance technology policies, giving residents the opportunity to ask questions and share concerns.
Our residents deserve a local government committed to respecting their rights and privacy and ensuring policing technology follows California laws.