{"id":480498,"date":"2026-09-30T14:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T14:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/480498\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T14:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T14:02:08","slug":"san-francisco-keeps-its-flock-cameras-with-new-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/480498\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco Keeps Its Flock Cameras, With New Restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The tighter rules are meant to strengthen privacy protections while doubling down on the controversial surveillance technology.<\/p>\n

Jose Velasquez<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie speaks to members of the press after unveiling the renamed federal building in honor of Senator Dianne Feinstein on June 29, 2026 in San Francisco, California. Mayor Lurie unveiled a new privacy policy for the city\u2019s automated license plate reader system.\u00a0(Heather Diehl\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

As public scrutiny over Flock Safety cameras<\/a> mounts, San Francisco officials announced new restrictions and increased oversight on Tuesday for the city\u2019s use of license plate readers.<\/p>\n

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie joined District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, Police Chief Derrick Lew and Assemblymember Matt Haney to share a raft of new policies intended to strengthen privacy protections \u2014 while doubling down on the city\u2019s Flock contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis technology keeps San Franciscans safe,\u201d Lurie said, \u201cand we will not go back to a time where people can break into cars, rob businesses or commit serious crime and expect to get away with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"An automated license plate reader is seen mounted on a pole on June 13, 2024, in San Francisco.\u00a0(Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Standing underneath a Flock license plate reader on Mission Street, the mayor credited the cameras with reduced crime and improved public safety, while acknowledging residents \u201calso have a right to expect strong protections about how information is accessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the new rules, San Francisco Police Department personnel will lose access to license plate data after 30 days, and officers\u2019 use of the technology must be justified and reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery active search will have to be connected to a specific incident number,\u201d Lurie said. \u201cThe officer will have to state the reason for the search and the system will record who conducted it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Used by thousands of law enforcement agencies throughout the country, the technology has raised alarms<\/a> over the potential for misuse and unauthorized sharing of information.<\/p>\n

In June, the SFPD revealed that their Automated License Plate Reader, or ALPR, data had been improperly accessed<\/a> hundreds of times by out-of-state and federal agencies.<\/p>\n

Lurie emphasized on Tuesday that the city doesn\u2019t willingly share ALPR data with federal agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur job isn\u2019t to react after something bad happens,\u201d Jenkins said.<\/p>\n

In a press release<\/a>, the mayor said SFPD\u00a0will conduct monthly reviews for potential violations. And the Department of Police Accountability will conduct regular independent audits of the department\u2019s use of the technology.<\/p>\n

Training will be required for personnel with access to ALPR systems. Officers who violate the new policy face department discipline or termination, the release said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The tighter rules are meant to strengthen privacy protections while doubling down on the controversial surveillance technology. Jose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-480498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480498","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=480498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}