{"id":472139,"date":"2026-09-22T18:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T18:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/472139\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T18:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T18:10:09","slug":"flocks-oakland-cameras-are-tracking-millions-of-trips-are-safeguards-enforceable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/472139\/","title":{"rendered":"Flock\u2019s Oakland cameras are tracking millions of trips. Are safeguards enforceable?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last December, the Oakland City Council approved a $2.25 million deal<\/a> with Flock Safety, the controversial<\/a> surveillance company that\u2019s built a national network of cameras to track the movements of millions of Americans for police departments.\u00a0 But before they agreed to the deal, city leaders, responding to concerns from the community, asked that safeguards<\/a> be put in place to ensure Flock\u2019s data gathered from Oakland\u2019s streets isn\u2019t misused, as has happened elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the safeguards were rules limiting who has access to data from the cameras, and stiff financial penalties for data breaches.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s two-year agreement, including these safeguards, would kick in once both parties signed the contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n

For months, The Oaklandside has repeatedly asked the city if it has finalized the contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nina Erlich-Williams, a spokesperson for the city attorney, told The Oaklandside on Sept. 9 that Oakland has not yet finalized the contract, \u201cbut we expect it to happen soon.\u201d Asked this week about the contract\u2019s status, she said it still has not been executed.<\/p>\n

We also sought clarity on whether Oakland is currently paying for Flock\u2019s services, even though no contract has been signed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf any further action is required by the City Council, the public will be notified in advance as required by the Brown Act and the City\u2019s Sunshine Ordinance,\u201d Erlich-Williams said in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Oakland Observer<\/a> was the first media outlet to report<\/a> that OPD hasn\u2019t finalized its agreement with Flock, and has continued to raise questions about the incomplete deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the contract unsigned, there\u2019s also an open question as to whether Oakland can enforce anything spelled out in the new agreement. Can the city legally enforce the additional safeguards or the fines against Flock if the company breaks the rules?\u00a0<\/p>\n

We asked the City Attorney about this and were told the office did not have any comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The City Administrator\u2019s office and representatives for Flock Safety did not respond to interview requests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Delay raises questions about whether Oakland has implemented safeguards<\/p>\n

The delay in signing Oakland\u2019s contract comes at a time when Flock is experiencing growing pushback<\/a> in communities across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some jurisdictions have cut ties with Flock following reports about how police officers have used cameras to illegally stalk<\/a> people or to provide data to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a>. There has also been public concern about how some law enforcement officers have misused equipment to spy on residents. Earlier this month, the San Jose Police Department fired an officer for allegedly using the city\u2019s Flock system to share the location of a woman<\/a> with a suspect accused of abusing her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Oakland City Council was aware of the many concerns about Flock when it approved the company\u2019s contract. To assuage the public, the council added a slew of amendments to the contract to keep residents safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These included a provision that explicitly forbade Flock from allowing out-of-state agencies to access data from Oakland\u2019s cameras (this is something OPD already said it doesn\u2019t do). The council also asked that the city\u2019s information not show up in any national or multi-state searches, meaning cops in other parts of the country can\u2019t access Oakland data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The deal the council approved stated that if Flock allows the unauthorized sharing of data, the city can impose up to $200,000 in penalties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The council-approved deal requires Flock to alert the city in real-time if it grants any new agency access to Oakland data, if Flock changes any sharing settings, and if any unauthorized agency attempts to run a search.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Flock is also required to submit a certification each quarter to attest that no federal or out-of-state users accessed or attempted to access Oakland\u2019s data; that none of the city\u2019s data was discoverable in any national or multi-state system; and that all access logs delivered to the city are complete and unaltered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And the council asked the city auditor to conduct four compliance audits to ensure Oakland\u2019s Flock system isn\u2019t sharing data with federal immigration enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another provision says that when the contract expires in December 2027, OPD will conduct a competitive bidding process for vendors who can provide surveillance services for the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because the contract hasn\u2019t been executed, we don\u2019t know if any of these safeguards have been implemented, or whether the last nine months will be retroactively included in the contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Opposition to mass surveillance is also becoming a bipartisan issue<\/a>, and congressional representatives from both parties<\/a> have been putting vendors like Flock under intense scrutiny<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some communities in Oakland champion the cameras, arguing that they bolster Oakland\u2019s relatively small police force. The Oakland branch of the NAACP has been a major booster of Flock \u2014 so much so that the company touts the group\u2019s endorsement<\/a> in its press materials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, the San Francisco Standard reported<\/a> that the San Francisco Police Department had illegally shared data acquired from Oakland\u2019s Flock system with federal law enforcement agencies. Brian Hofer, a former member of the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission, is pursuing a lawsuit against OPD<\/a> for allegedly violating state law for sharing Flock data. More recently, some of Oakland\u2019s Flock cameras have been paint- bombed<\/a> and cut down<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Flock says it has taken steps to address community concerns. For example, in August, Flock announced that it now recommends a default seven-day period for retaining ALPR data<\/a>, acknowledging that over 90% of ALPR searches are done within a week. Oakland\u2019s agreement currently uses a 30-day period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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