Automated Speed Safety Program<\/a> during a news conference by a newly installed camera on on Broadway, near 27th Street,\u00a0 Friday morning. The program aims to improve traffic and pedestrian safety by issuing citations to deter speeding drivers .<\/p>\n\u201cTraffic safety is public safety,\u201d Lee said. \u201cAnd so, with this program, we\u2019re actively addressing speeding to save lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For 60 days, speeding drivers will only receive a warning, as the community acclimates to the technology. Official speeding tickets, with discounted amounts for low-income and drivers who receive public benefits, will be issued when the adjustment period expires in mid-March. Revenues will support traffic safety initiatives, Lee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Protecting pedestrians<\/p>\n
Proponents of the program point to some data showing public safety has improved since cities have installed Flock cameras. One of the most significant benefits is protecting pedestrians, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland President Chris Hwang said at the news conference. Even a 10 mph speed difference can be crucial in surviving a vehicle hit, she said, adding that camera systems have been an effective deterrent to speeding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The cameras are just one aspect of Oakland\u2019s effort to make streets safer and more accessible for pedestrians, Hwang said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flock\u2019s computer-controlled, high-speed camera system scans every license plate that passes its vantage points. The plate number, in addition to the time, date and location of the scan are recorded and stored in a central server accessible to law enforcement. The cameras can be at intersections, on light posts, on top of police vehicles and in covert spots, from traffic cones to cacti.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city has a contract with Arizona-based smart transportation company Verra Mobility to help execute the program. At the news conference, Will Barnow, Verra Mobility\u2019s vice president of strategic partnership, emphasized Flock cameras\u2019 role in public safety, saying, \u201cThese are not surveillance cameras. These are cameras that are only used for the purpose of slowing folks down and saving lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Josh Rowan, interim director of Oakland Public Works, said the system will only be triggered when it detects a speeding vehicle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These claims are disputed by some research. In 2019, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which champions civil liberties in the digital world, analyzed data from over a billion license plate scans across 82 agencies in California, finding that nearly all of the captured plates were not actively involved with law enforcement investigations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That information is the basis of a lawsuit filed by EFF and the American Civil Liberties Union against San Jose. The organizations allege that San Jose\u2019s system violates the rights to privacy and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures enumerated in the California Constitution.<\/p>\n
Thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country have partnered with Flock Safety to help solve crimes amid budget cuts and understaffing.<\/p>\n
Wang praised the system\u2019s expansion in Oakland and urged state lawmakers to go further in supporting the technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am just so glad that this is happening,\u201d she said. \u201cI also actually want to call on our state legislators to allow us to install more cameras, OK? Eighteen is not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looming in 2026: Oakland health advocates prepare community for Medi-Cal freeze<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After much debate and despite strident opposition, Oakland installed Flock cameras this week at 18 locations, making it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[70387,70388,143,145,144],"class_list":["post-138936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-automated-license-plate-reader","tag-flock-camera","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}