Update
It’s been two weeks since we published the community audit of the Flock Safety ALPR system in Elk Grove. We initially received responses from Mayor Singh-Allen and Council Member Darren Suen, each saying that they would be willing to meet with us after they reviewed the document. However, since that initial response we have not had further indications of when or if they will still meet. In response to our follow-up last week, Mayor Singh-Allen stated she wanted to wait until the Chief of Police had finished reviewing the information we provided. By that point, a week and a half had already passed since they received the audit. Later, at the City Council meeting on August 12, the Mayor said the City was formulating a response to the Flock issue. Community members are eager to be involved in this process and again ask the City to meet with us to discuss these issues.
National Week of Action Against ALPRs!
August 16–22 is National Week of Action Against Automated License Plate Reader cameras (ALPRs)! Here are ways to engage in Elk Grove:
- Sign the Petition to Get ALPRs Out of Elk Grove! No need to make a donation after signing. Donations go to the petition host website to boost the petition online, not to support DeFlock Elk Grove activities. It helps us more if you share the petition with 5–10 local friends, family, and neighbors and/or post it on social media!
- All Out to the Next City Council Meeting on August 26th! Please plan to Attend and Comment! Join in-person, if possible, or comment remotely. We are calling on the City to cancel the Flock Safety ALPR contract and NOT replace it with another ALPR vendor such as Axon, Genetec, Motorola Vigilant, Leonardo, or others. All of these vendors have the same built-in risks, even if they have not been in the news as much.
- Invite Others to Come Comment at the City Council Meeting! Can you invite at least 7 people this week?
- Print our call-to-action flyer as a half-sheet or full sheet to hand out to friends, neighbors, coworkers, parents of children’s friends, etc. You can also share it as a digital flyer on social media or via text message or email.
- Take some flyers and knock some doors in your neighborhood to do some impromptu canvassing to get the word out! (For safety, it’s always recommended to canvas in groups of two or more and never do anything that doesn’t feel safe to you!)
- Join Some Countywide Actions! DeFlock Sac Metro has a robust “Week of Action” list of group and solo activities for anyone to join!
NEW Axon brand ALPRs in Elk Grove?
Residents recently discovered that an AXON brand ALPR has been mounted to a traffic signal pole on the northwest corner of Bruceville Rd. and Laguna Blvd. This new camera joins two other Flock Safety ALPR cameras and an Avigilon PTZ camera on the exact same pole. What are all these cameras, and what information do they capture?
NEW Axon brand ALPR Camera: This appears to be Axon’s Outpost model, a fixed ALPR that includes “livestreaming, ALPR, and vehicle recognition in one device.” Just like Flock, Axon boasts, “With ALPR Sharing, you can invite a specific partner agency to search matches from your cameras.” Axon ALPRs pose the same inherent risks that we see with Flock. The technology is designed to be used without a warrant, is built for sharing with outside agencies, and has internal “guardrails” so flimsy a fifth grader could bypass them to use the system illegally. Elk Grove Police Department’s public documentation shows the City only uses Axon for “Fleet 3” cameras, which mount on police vehicles. Why is there now a fixed Axon ALPR mounted to a traffic signal pole? Replacing Flock with Axon is not an acceptable solution to the serious privacy and safety issues these cameras force onto our community. We are calling on the City to cancel the Flock Safety ALPR contract and NOT replace it with another ALPR vendor including Axon, Genetec, Motorola Vigilant, Leonardo, and others. Source: https://www.axon.com/products/axon-outpost
Avigilon H5A-PTZ Camera: A PTZ is a “pan, tilt, zoom” camera. According to the Avigilon website, the version of this model currently sold has 360-degree views, up to 36x zoom, and AI-powered video analytics so police “never miss a moment.” It states, “When a person or vehicle is flagged by the camera’s predefined analytics, the camera will automatically follow and zoom in on the person or vehicle in greater detail.” This camera model is listed on the City’s website as a “traffic camera,” yet there is also one pointed directly at the playground at Oneto Park, here in Elk Grove. Source: https://www.avigilon.com/security-cameras/h5a-ptz
Flock Safety ALPR Cameras (2): This traffic signal pole now has two Flock cameras. One appears to be the old style ALPR and one is a newer camera. The first one shows up in Google Earth in April 2025. The second appears to have been added recently. These AI-powered cameras capture and analyze images of all passing vehicles, storing details including a vehicle’s location, date, and time. They also capture a vehicle’s make, model, color, and identifying features such as dents, roof racks, and bumper stickers, often turning these into searchable data points. These are part of the camera system we audited and found illegal sharing and other concerning issues (Source: https://deflockelkgrove.org/community-audit/)
Let the City know what you think about this surveillance when you comment at the August 26th City Council meeting!