Overview
- The Mountain View City Council voted unanimously to terminate its contract with Flock Safety and to remove or deactivate 30 license plate reader cameras after police disclosed more than a year of unauthorized searches.
- Police Chief Mike Canfield reported that out‑of‑state and possibly federal agencies accessed Mountain View ALPR data in late 2024 due to a broader lookup setting, which the department said violated city policy and state law.
- In a 3–2 vote, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors amended its surveillance policy to prevent the sheriff’s office from operating or accessing Flock‑sourced data in Cupertino, Saratoga and Los Altos Hills, with immediate reporting and four‑month audits required for compliance.
- Flock Safety says it has no contracts with ICE or CBP and maintains that customers control all data sharing, citing a 30‑day default deletion policy and asserting the company never shares data on its own.
- Residents and civil‑liberties groups pressed officials to curtail ALPR use as law enforcement highlighted crime‑fighting benefits, and San Jose’s police chief proposed cutting data retention to 30 days, restricting camera placement near sensitive sites and blocking federal access.