Some Berkeley City Council members recently defended their support for renewing a contract for Flock Safety’s surveillance technology despite widespread opposition from Berkeley residents.
Council members argued that Flock has reporting “safeguards” that will protect against abuses despite evidence that this has failed elsewhere.
Across the country, police officers have reportedly misused Flock and other automated license plate reader systems to stalk women, ex-partners, and other people for personal reasons. In Milwaukee, prosecutors said one officer used Flock 179 times over two months to track a woman he was dating and her ex-partner.
These searches were sometimes logged simply as “investigation,” which shows that audit logs do not prevent abuse.
Over the past year, municipalities across the U.S. have terminated contracts with Flock over reports that federal immigration agencies accessed its data.
Wilhemina Condon, Berkeley
My 1915 house will require major modification to support an electric heat pump, so the timeline looks like this: find an electrician, apply for an electrical permit, find a plumber, apply for a plumbing permit, get on the schedule of the electrician and the plumber, wait for them to do the work and wait for final inspection from the Building Department.
Even an optimist can see that this process will take a significant amount of time — and my home will not have hot water for some of it.
Electric water heaters should be mandated in new construction or remodeling, but can we please have some common sense when it comes to requiring them for older homes?
Laurel Winzler, San Francisco
This is contradicted by the elections code and, more importantly, common sense. The disclaimer that appeared above Grundmann’s statement just shows Weber knew the statement should not be published. This appalling lack of judgment should not be rewarded with another four years in office.