Car crimes in San Francisco have dropped. The city says Flock cameras have helped : NPR

Car crimes have plunged in San Francisco over the last four years. The city credits, in part, Flock cameras. We investigate the claim.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

San Francisco is keeping its Flock cameras. The city says surveillance helped to reduce car crimes. Greg Rosalsky looks into this for NPR’s Planet Money Newsletter.

GREG ROSALSKY, BYLINE: We compared San Francisco police data for January through August of this year with the same months in 2022. Car thefts are down almost 59%. Car break-ins? They’re down more than 82%.

BROOKE JENKINS: One of the most important factors was the introduction of technology.

ROSALSKY: That’s San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. In March 2024, San Franciscans voted to make it easier for the police to use drones and surveillance cameras. That same month, the police began installing license-plate readers made by Flock Safety.

JENKINS: What the license-plate-reader cameras have absolutely done, and we do have proof of that, is given the police the ability to catch people who have engaged in crime.

ROSALSKY: Flock cameras photograph passing vehicles and use AI to scan their plates and capture other details, like make and model or even bumper stickers. It puts it all in a searchable database. The police say this high-tech system has been instrumental in reducing crime.

However, there were many other changes over the last few years in San Francisco. They got a new DA who is more aggressive on crime. The police stepped up patrols in tourist spots known for car break-ins. So how much credit does Flock actually deserve for the drop in car crime? There’s actually not much rigorous research on the effect of Flock on crime. The most ambitious study so far is one by University of South Carolina crime researchers Scott Mourtgos and Ian Adams. Here’s Adams.

IAN ADAMS: What we find is that motor-vehicle theft drops by about 11% in aggregate in the first year as agencies adopt that technology.

ROSALSKY: That estimate comes from comparing crime trends in more than 200 police jurisdictions that adopted Flock with those that didn’t. This is just one study, and it hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed. That said, the study backs up some of the claims made by San Francisco leaders. Chad Marlow? He’s not convinced. He’s with the American Civil Liberties Union, and he leads a campaign called Get the Flock Out. He portrays this technology as helping to create a sort of dystopian surveillance state – one that can record people’s movements whether or not they’re suspected of a crime.

CHAD MARLOW: So it can be used to go after any vulnerable group or any group that the government agency that controls the data, or can access the data, wants to go after. And we’ve seen that.

ROSALSKY: There have been many reports of abuse of the Flock system around the nation, from improper searches, including officers using it to stalk ex-girlfriends, to unauthorized data-sharing with federal immigration enforcement. Flock says it’s adding new safeguards, including automatically suspending users whose searches meet criteria for abnormal use. This week, the San Francisco mayor announced he was tightening rules, too. And District Attorney Jenkins? She’s announced she’s pushing for state legislation to make misuse of this data a crime.

JENKINS: I didn’t want to see us lose the opportunity to use this technology.

ROSALSKY: San Francisco leaders are betting it can keep Flock’s crime-fighting benefits while putting stronger safeguards in place that prevent abuse.

Greg Rosalsky, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: Greg has a write-up in the latest Planet Money newsletter at npr.org/planetmoneynewsletter.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Tags: