{"id":172826,"date":"2026-02-11T02:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/172826\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T02:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:44:09","slug":"alameda-county-delays-vote-on-flock-license-plate-reader-contract-amid-privacy-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/172826\/","title":{"rendered":"Alameda County delays vote on Flock license plate reader contract amid privacy concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — Alameda County supervisors are delaying a decision on whether to renew a one-year contract with Flock Safety, the company behind automated license plate reader cameras used by local law enforcement.<\/p>\n

The proposed extension would cost $854,200, up from the current $550,600 contract that expires at the end of June.<\/p>\n

But after hours of public comment Tuesday, supervisors opted to push the decision to April 21, citing unresolved questions about data privacy and government access to surveillance information.<\/p>\n

Public safety advocates rallied outside the meeting, urging county leaders to keep the system in place.<\/p>\n

Brenda Grisham with the Oakland Alliance for Public Safety argued the cameras have become essential at a time when departments are struggling with police staffing shortages.<\/p>\n

“If we don’t have enough bodies, then we need technology to fill in the gaps,” Grisham said.<\/p>\n

MORE: SF and Oakland police illegally shared license plate data with federal agencies: report<\/a><\/p>\n

Inside the board meeting, opponents pushed back, accusing the company of contributing to oversurveillance in communities of color and expressing distrust of how data is stored and shared.<\/p>\n

“Flock is just terrible,” said Oakland resident Gianna Ruggiero. “Please do not fund tech billionaires. Support our city.”<\/p>\n

Supervisors acknowledged the competing concerns – including fears that, despite state law, data could be accessed by the Trump administration to conduct immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

“It’s really important to recognize that under this particular administration there are things happening that are not normal things, including potential for surveillance,” said Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas.<\/p>\n

California law prohibits publicly funded license plate reader data from being shared with the federal government, including immigration enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

In a January statement, Flock reiterated<\/a> that it does not work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or any other DHS subagencies, saying all data “is owned and controlled by the customer,” whether a public or private organization.<\/p>\n

MORE: Bay Area license plate reader leads to arrest of suspect possibly posing as federal agent<\/a><\/p>\n

The company added that any federal access would require explicit permission from a local agency and must comply with state and federal law.<\/p>\n

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office credits Flock systems with helping arrest violent offenders and recover stolen vehicles. Supporters argue those successes outweigh concerns about data misuse.<\/p>\n

“Nothing is going to be perfect, but we have to use the tools that we have,” Grisham said.<\/p>\n

“Show me where a deportation was because of Flock cameras,” said Edward Escobar, founder of the Coalition for Community Engagement. “Prove that to me, because all of this is speculative.”<\/p>\n

With no consensus Tuesday, supervisors agreed they needed more time to review the contract terms and the county’s oversight of the technology.<\/p>\n

The issue will return to the board on April 21, when supervisors are expected to reconsider the contract.<\/p>\n


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Copyright \u00a9 2026 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — Alameda County supervisors are delaying a decision on whether to renew a one-year contract…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[82690,143,145,144],"class_list":{"0":"post-172826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-82690","9":"tag-oakland","10":"tag-oakland-headlines","11":"tag-oakland-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172826","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=172826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}