Welcome back to our “Meet the Candidates” series, where District 8 supervisor candidates respond to a question in 100 words or fewer. Answers are published every Wednesday.
District 8 includes neighborhoods in the center of the city, including the Castro, Noe Valley, Glen Park, Twin Peaks, Duboce Triangle, Dolores Heights, Parnassus Heights, Ashbury Heights, Corona Heights, and Diamond Heights.
San Francisco has embraced surveillance technology in recent years, adding speed cameras, drones, and more to its streets.
None has been as controversial as the Flock license plate readers the city installed in March 2024. The police say they are useful for fighting crime — they can be used to identify where a stolen car may have gone, for instance.
But critics have raised privacy concerns about Flock cameras, saying that the dense camera network — there are over 400 in San Francisco — can be used to track people. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has used Flock’s database elsewhere in the country to track down immigrants they want to deport, officers have searched for their exes and romantic partners, and an officer has used the cameras to track women traveling out of state for abortions
Though California law prohibits San Francisco from sharing its data with out-of-state law enforcement agencies, San Francisco has allowed improper searches of its data 1.6 million times, according to the San Francisco Standard, including at least 19 that were on behalf of ICE. The data breaches continue: In June, SFPD revealed another 299 improper searches of Flock data by federal agencies.
A working paper released this week found that motor vehicle theft decreased in jurisdictions that put in the cameras. In two other studies, where license plate readers mounted to patrol cars were placed near theft hotspots, crime did not decrease. One of those studies, though, showed that the cameras helped officers recover stolen cars.
This week’s question: Do you support San Francisco’s use of Flock cameras?
Mission Local color codes the answers to yes/no questions. A green background means the candidate answered yes, a red background means no, and a yellow background means that the candidate dodged the question.
Darshini Patel
Job: Former DoorDash employee, worked on the 2012 Obama campaign and the 2024 Harris campaign, former Obama staffer
Age: 38
Residency: Homeowner, has lived in District 8 for 10 cumulative years since 2010
Transportation: Public transit, walking and biking
Education: Bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College
Languages: Gujarati, English
No. A searchable record of where people travel can reveal visits to LGBTQ+ spaces, healthcare providers, religious institutions, or immigrant-serving organizations. In just six months, outside agencies ran over 1.6 million searches of San Francisco’s plate data, including 19 for ICE. Even after shutting down that access, improper outside searches continued.
Evidence also hasn’t shown that Flock reduces crime. A system that doesn’t offer security or results isn’t working for us.
SFPD’s $3.9 million contract expires in February 2027; I’d vote against renewal.
I’d invest instead in well-lit streets, vibrant storefronts, after-dark programming, and street crisis response teams.
See Patel’s full response here.
Endorsed by: N/A
Manny Yekutiel
Job: Founder and owner of Manny’s, co-founder and former executive director of Civic Joy Fund
Age: 36
Residency: Renter, has lived in San Francisco since 2012 and District 8 since 2013
Transportation: Driving, public transit and walking
Education: Bachelor’s degree from Williams College
Languages: English, Hebrew
Yes, I support it, with real guardrails. Technology like cameras are proven to help solve crimes and slow down reckless drivers on our streets but I won’t support any of it if that data ends up with ICE or the federal government, full stop. I want clear limits on how long footage is kept, who can access it, what it gets used for, and no recording of people’s private conversations.
Public safety and privacy don’t have to be in competition. We can give our police, sheriff, and fire departments real tools and still protect people’s rights.
Endorsed by: District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, former Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr, Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Jane Fonda, Senator Cory Booker, Grow SF, Abundant SF, San Francisco Apartment Association … see more here.
Gary McCoy
Job: Former staffer to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and former vice president of policy and public affairs at HealthRIGHT 360
Age: 48
Residency: Renter, has lived in San Francisco for 24 years and District 8 for 15 years
Transportation: Driving, biking, public transit and walking
Education: Former City College of San Francisco student, certified phlebotomy technician from Bay Area Medical Academy
Languages: English
No, I don’t support the city’s use of Flock cameras. I’ve refused donations and support from Flock, its lobbyists and employees.
Our first responders should have the resources they need to keep people safe, but privacy is an important part of safety when undocumented immigrants are being kidnapped on and off our streets. These cameras collect data that can be used against vulnerable members of our community. There aren’t enough safeguards around who can access this data, especially at a time when the federal government is criminalizing LGTBQ+ people, abortion and reproductive rights, and immigrants.
Endorsed by: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Supervisor Matt Dorsey, San Francisco Labor Council, Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club, Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, San Francisco Tenants Union … see more here.
Michael Nguyen
Job: Patent attorney
Age: 44
Residency: Renter, has lived in District 8 since 2006
Transportation: Driving, public transit and walking
Education: Bachelor’s degree from Southwestern University, law degree from University of California Law, San Francisco
Languages: English, some Spanish, some Vietnamese
No. I oppose expanding Flock Safety cameras in San Francisco. They create a mass-surveillance system that tracks where people travel and can be shared with entities that are beyond local control. The public-safety tradeoff is not worth the threat to privacy, civil liberties, immigrants, communities of color, and political protesters — especially as authoritarian governments increasingly try to criminalize and target vulnerable people. District 8 deserves safety without a surveillance state.
I support (and we deserve) accountable community policing, well-lit streets and transit stops, violence-prevention outreach, and real investment in the Street Crisis Response Team — not establishing a mass surveillance state.
Endorsed by: GLBTQ+ Asian Pacific Alliance, Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club (#2), San Francisco Green Party, former supervisor Dean Preston … see more here.
Candidates are ordered alphabetically and rotated each week. Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at io@missionlocal.com.
Election Day is on Nov. 3, 2026. You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.