Unauthorized law enforcement agencies were inadvertently allowed to view information from the city’s license plate readers, according to a report shared at the Nov. 18 meeting of the Santa Cruz City Council, attended by a number of people who want to see the readers shut down.
The council announced a series of immediate steps aimed at tightening oversight, limiting data access and rebuilding public trust after the Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) violations.
“We hear you, and we understand the seriousness of the issues you’ve raised,” said Councilmember Susie O’Hara, acknowledging residents, civil-rights advocates and the local group Get the Flock Out, who have pressed the city to better regulate or discontinue its use of ALPR cameras.
“I share many of these same concerns and have been working over the last several weeks to get answers, gather information, and develop a path forward that protects our community and reflects our values.”
According to city officials, on Feb. 11, Flock Safety—the private vendor that provides the cameras and software used by the Santa Cruz Police Department—notified agencies statewide that a flaw in its system architecture inadvertently allowed law enforcement agencies outside California to conduct broad searches of license-plate data, including data collected in Santa Cruz. The searches violated two laws: the ALPR Privacy Act (SB 34) and the California Values Act (SB 54).
Councilmember O’Hara delivered the update at the start of the meeting, noting that although the item was not formally on the agenda, city leaders wanted to ensure the community understood the scope of the problem and the steps underway to address it.
O’Hara emphasized that the data collected by Flock cameras “belongs to the City of Santa Cruz,” which she said gives the city both “the ability and the responsibility to adjust our practices immediately” while a broader system review is conducted.
Among the most significant and immediate steps the City will take now is to temporarily stop participating in the statewide sharing portal, sharply limiting external access to Flock data.
“Any access to our data will occur through a case-by-case basis, reviewed individually to ensure compliance with our policies, state law and community expectations,” O’Hara said.
Mayor Fred Keeley spoke about the broader implications of the findings, drawing comparisons to earlier periods in U.S. history when authorities expanded surveillance efforts.
“I think that the federal government used 9/11 to strip away a substantial amount of our freedoms and rights with the so-called Patriot Act,” said Keeley. “I’m not over that. I’m not over the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. I think our police department does a very good job. It’s not about our police department. It is about the notion of extensive surveillance in a free society.
“My view is that we were better off without the Patriot Act,” Keeley continued. “We are better off without indiscriminate surveillance, regardless of how good our police department is, following every single rule. My issue isn’t with our police department. My issue is with absolutely widespread surveillance of our public at a time when that should be reduced, not increased.”
Police Chief Bernie Escalante, providing a detailed accounting of the violations and subsequent corrective measures, said the department learned only recently that Flock’s “national search tool” had been activated in a way that improperly allowed out-of-state law-enforcement agencies to search camera data from across the entire Flock network—including California agencies legally barred from sharing such information.
“These violations were not known to the Santa Cruz Police Department and were not the result of any deliberate attempt by city staff to circumvent California law,” Escalante said.
Escalante stressed there is no evidence that data from Santa Cruz cameras was ever used by federal agencies or by any out-of-state agency for immigration enforcement or by customs officials.
“Reviewing the Flock audit data, it is apparent that national searches did include the cameras in the City of Santa Cruz,” he said. “But there is no indication the data was ever used by any agency outside the state of California or by any federal agency for the purposes of immigration enforcement.”
He added that Flock informed the city that all unauthorized search capabilities were disabled on Feb. 11, and that the company has since “added multiple layers and filters of security to ensure this does not occur again.”
Escalante outlined several technical changes Flock has implemented:
- Deactivation of the national search tool for all California agencies.
- Revocation of permissions allowing California agencies to create one-to-one sharing relationships with out-of-state law enforcement entities.
- New filters blocking any search involving “ICE, Border Patrol, immigration or any other word or phrase like this type of search.”
Escalante said SCPD has additionally taken internal actions, including multiple meetings with Flock to confirm corrective measures, internal policy reviews, revocation of improper sharing permissions held by other agencies and new oversight protocols in coordination with the city attorney’s office and council leadership.
He concluded, “In accordance with city policy and the values of our community, the Santa Cruz Police Department does not assist immigration and customs enforcement officials in enforcing civil immigration law.”
After Escalante’s report, O’Hara resumed outlining the city’s policy actions.
The additional measures include the following:
- Responding to public-records requests with full disclosure of all external search activity involving Santa Cruz camera data.
- Studying more restrictive ALPR data-sharing models used in cities such as San Francisco and Oakland, which rely on narrowly defined one-to-one agreements rather than network-wide sharing.
- Developing a new attestation policy requiring any agency requesting access to Santa Cruz data to affirm in writing that it will comply with the city’s standards and all state laws.
- Updating the city’s transparency portal with detailed organizational information and producing quarterly public reports on ALPR usage.
- Evaluating a contract amendment with Flock Safety that would add “the strongest safeguards available” and explicitly prohibit the use of Santa Cruz data for immigration enforcement or in ways that conflict with our community’s values.
“This review is essential to fully evaluate the risks associated with Flock, identify what measures can be put in place to limit or eliminate those risks, and weigh the continued use of the system against the investigative benefits it provides,” O’Hara said.
In its meeting on Dec. 9, the Santa Cruz City Council will present the results of its full review and a proposed contract amendment with Flock.
Capitola Police also recently confirmed that they violated state law in sharing data with out-of-state agencies, including ICE, but said the violations were unintentional. The department is increasing its oversight into how other agencies use its data.
PULL QUOTE
‘In accordance with city policy and the values of our community, the Santa Cruz Police Department does not assist immigration and customs enforcement officials in enforcing civil immigration law.’ —Police Chief Bernie Escalante
