There has been a decent amount of coverage about Flock cameras in our County.
We will look to keep an updated list on this page.
by Santa Cruz County residents and organizations united against Flock mass surveillance
Mass surveillance cameras operated by the private company Flock Safety are spreading across Santa Cruz County, putting residents’ privacy, safety and constitutional rights at risk, warns a group of activists working to get the cameras removed. The danger is particularly acute in Watsonville, which has the highest number of cameras and the largest immigrant community in our county. Documented data breaches, misuse by law enforcement and illegal data sharing show these systems cannot be used responsibly, they write. The group urges the Santa Cruz City Council to cancel its Flock contract and choose community trust and civil liberties over unchecked surveillance.
by Get the Flock Out supporters
Watsonville leaders betrayed the community on Sept. 9 by approving 17 more Flock Safety surveillance cameras, writes a countywide grassroots coalition that opposes the cameras. The 5-2 vote means Watsonville will have 37 cameras — more than any other city in Santa Cruz County — even as critics warn the devices erode privacy and funnel sensitive data to a Georgia company with ties to federal immigration agencies. Supporters claim the cameras deter crime, but here, the authors cite studies and investigative reports showing no evidence of real crime reduction. The authors urge all cities to reconsider approval of cameras.
The city of Santa Cruz is cutting ties with Flock safety cameras over strong community pushback and concerns about where the information was going.
Santa Cruz has terminated its contract with Flock Safety, the automated license plate reader operator, over data privacy concerns.
Santa Cruz City Council voted 6-1 on Tuesday to end its contract with license plate camera company Flock Safety.
The Santa Cruz City Council voted 6-1 to end the city’s contract with Flock Safety at its Tuesday meeting following data breaches, community pushback, and a recommendation from three councilmembers that the city pull out of the contract.
The Santa Cruz City Council voted 6-1 to terminate the city’s contract with Flock Safety, the company that provides automated license plate cameras to Santa Cruz, Capitola and Watsonville along with other jurisdictions across the country, at its meeting Tuesday afternoon.
The vote comes after months of controversy over the license plate reader system
As residents spoke out against cameras, data from Capitola and Santa Cruz was shared nationwide
Numerous California law enforcement agencies searched the Santa Cruz Police Department’s Flock camera data thousands of times in the past 18 months on behalf of federal immigration agencies, according to data compiled by grassroots coalition Get The Flock Out. Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante says measures the department implemented in November are designed to prevent this from happening in the future.
Dozens of California law enforcement agencies appear to have illegally performed thousands of searches of license plate camera data on behalf of federal agencies charged with immigration enforcement, according to a Santa Cruz Local analysis.
Data compiled by countywide grassroots coalition Get The Flock Out shows that a former Georgia police chief searched Capitola data in early 2025. Capitola Police Chief Sarah Ryan said she was not aware of these searches, but given the recent issues with Flock Safety is not surprised.
The Santa Cruz City Council has pushed off plans to revisit its contract with Flock Safety for automated license plate readers until January, rather than its originally planned date of Dec. 9.
Dozens of California law enforcement agencies appear to have illegally performed thousands of searches of license plate camera data on behalf of federal agencies charged with immigration enforcement, according to a Santa Cruz Local analysis.
Santa Cruz will temporarily limit access to its license plate reader data from outside agencies and review its agreement with Flock Safety after the company acknowledged it had violated California law by allowing out-of-state law enforcement agencies to access local data. The city council will return in December with the results of its review and possible changes to the city’s contract with the company.
Police chief says data from Santa Cruz cameras shared in violation of state law
The Capitola chief of police confirmed that the department violated multiple state laws after recent reporting revealed that data collected by license plate cameras posted along city roadways had been accessed by federal and out-of-state law enforcement authorities.
Santa Cruz Police inadvertently— and illegally— shared license plate camera data with out-of-state law enforcement agencies, Chief Bernie Escalante announced during a Tuesday Santa Cruz City Council meeting. Now, city leaders say they are tightening restrictions for sharing the data and re-evaluating the city’s contract with Flock Security, which stores the data.
Throughout 2024 and early 2025, federal and out-of-state law enforcement agencies searched Capitola Police Department’s database of automatic license plate readers more than three million times, violating multiple laws. At least 190 were done by sheriffs offices and police departments running searches on behalf of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
The consent item would allocate funds for 37 cameras over 2 years
The group is asking city councils to pause, rather than expand, their contracts with the company