A new proposal would tighten rules around unauthorized searches, but the cameras aren’t going anywhere, officials said.
Sep 24, 2026
Updated 2:35 pm PT
Alina Ta
Protesters march carrying a papier-mâché camera to protest the use of Flock security cameras at the Oakland Sin Fronteras May Day march in Oakland on May 1, 2026. San José officials called for more audits of law enforcement searches of the automated license plate-reader database. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
San José officials said they plan to tighten rules for accessing the city’s automatic license plate reader system after a police officer was fired for misusing the city’s Flock database to track a civilian who accused his family member of domestic violence.
A memo from Vice Mayor Pam Foley and Mayor Matt Mahan would petition the California state Legislature to find a way to add criminal penalties as one of the potential consequences for when an officer misuses license plate reader data, Foley told KQED on Wednesday.
“There ought to be more ways that we can hold an officer who misuses the information accountable than just firing him. But there is not that provision or that capability right now,” she said.
San José Mayor Matt Mahan helps to install a Flock Safety brand automated license plate reader on April 23, 2024. The city and Mahan are now being sued by civil liberties groups over the technology’s uses. (Joseph Geha/KQED)
According to San José Police Chief Paul Joseph, an off-duty officer used a personal device to perform unauthorized license plate reader searches and locate a victim’s vehicle. He then shared the location with the suspect, who was a relative of the officer.
The officer was immediately placed on leave and later terminated following a criminal investigation, Joseph said in an email. The case was submitted to the state for a decertification investigation.
A Flock Safety worker holds up a new Automated License Plate Reader that was being installed in East San Jose on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (Joseph Geha/KQED)
Foley said leaders had previously considered banning Flock use on personal devices, but “if someone wants to misuse” personal information, they could still access the information on a police-issued device.
While Foley emphasized the goal of the memo, which will be released on Friday, is to add more guardrails in place, she said the city does not plan to change or eliminate its contract with Flock Safety, citing public safety.
“We need this tool to help really solve serious crimes,” Foley said. “We have to do what we can do to protect our community by being able to solve crimes as quickly as possible, and that’s with the use of this technology.
In a statement, SJPD said the new standards “will help maintain trust with our community that the data is being used as intended.”
“They will also ensure that anyone who breaches the community’s trust will face administrative and criminal consequences,” the statement continued.
A Flock camera monitors the intersection at McKee and North White roads in San José on April 2, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
Advocates for civil liberties and immigrant protections, however, said the incident was proof that license-plate reading cameras and other surveillance tools are “not public safety.”
“It is a blatant violation of our community’s trust to learn that a sworn police officer abused our private ALPR data for their personal purposes on their personal phone for their personal contact to stalk and endanger a domestic violence survivor,” said Kimberly Woo, a community organizer from SIREN, a group that has sued San Jose, along with civil liberties groups, over Flock cameras.
“Mass surveillance goes beyond one company, one vendor, and one ‘bad actor,’” the statement continued. “Mass warrantless surveillance from ALPRs makes our people vulnerable to who is in power to turn our data into the wrong hands.”
KQED’s Elize Manoukian contributed to this report.