Flock cameras help solve crimes, help keep our community safe, I don't see what is the big deal, why progressives insist on protecting the criminals. With the excuse if protecting privacy laws. ICE does not have access to the cameras. So stop using the undocumented immigrants as an excuse to limit the police ability to solve crimes

ABSOLUTELY NOT! Once collected, this data can be accessed by ICE and Federal agencies to target undocumented Oaklanders and criminalize Black, Brown, and poor communities. Even with California's SB 34 law prohibiting ALPR sharing with federal agencies, Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump Administration have made clear their willingness to use force to get this information. Local policies can't stop federal subpoenas, and state laws can't block federal court orders.
We know how this story goes: once the infrastructure is built, they will come for it. The only way to protect our people is not to collect the data in the first place. As a sanctuary city, Oakland has a responsibility to stop building surveillance tools that federal agencies will inevitably use against us.

Flock Safety has proven itself an untrustworthy company with no credibility. Flock CEO admitted using 50 million stolen data points and being "willing to lie" about it—even sharing clients’ ALPR data with ICE and federal agencies despite promises to the contrary.

FlockOS turns entire cities into 24/7 tracking zones. FlockOS connects ALPRs, Ring doorbells, business cameras, drones into one nationwide tracking network with 20 billion monthly scans. Approving this contract means Oakland data will flow into a massive searchable database accessible to over 5,000 agencies nationwide—including ICE and the Trump administration—without any warrant requirement, individualized suspicion, or oversight.

I'm a District 5 Oakland resident, and I am opposed to expansion of the FLOCK system. FLOCK is a proven bad-faith operator, especially in data management. Mass surveillance is not the solution for safer communities. These devices sow division, suspicion, and stress in our communities, not building the thriving Oakland we want.

I'm an Oakland resident who strongly opposes this effort to essentially set up a spy network that can be turned over to ICE and easily hacked.

Oakland can’t afford to turn away proven tools. Flock cameras have already helped solve shootings, robberies, and homicides — technology that works while our police staffing remains at crisis levels. We need public safety for our residents, families and small businesses.

I am an Oakland resident and strongly oppose this action. Flock cameras are not secure and enable a surveillance state. In the time of authoritarianism at the federal level, we should not be collecting data that tracks all of our movements. This data has a strong potential for misuse and puts all of us at risk. There are other steps we can take as a community to improve safety that build local capacity and doesn't put our data in the hands of an untrustworthy company.

These systems have helped reduce crime, without racial bias and help offset staffing challenges. Strongly in favor of keeping Flock

As an Oakland resident, I’m deeply concerned about the safety of our families and local businesses. We need tools that help prevent crime, not politics that get in the way of protecting people. Flock cameras are a smart, privacy-protected solution — they only capture license plates, not faces, and the data are automatically deleted unless tied to an investigation. Please stand with the residents who are asking for common-sense safety solutions that give OPD the ability to respond quickly and protect our community.

I've lived in Oakland for over 2 decades and been a home owner in Oakland for 15 years. I oppose this proposal to install more FLOCK cameras in Oakland. The rise in private companies gathering surveillance data of citizens across the city and state is a threat to our safety. I do not want our city to be complicit in such surveillance. I do not want to be treated like a criminal that requires 24/7 monitoring by my own government. These tools have been and will be used to target certain populations and people with certain beliefs. To vote yes is to support this increase in population control that has nothing to do with crime.

I STRONGLY oppose the City of Oakland and OPD entering into a contract with Flock. Flock databases have been used illegally by ICE in numerous instances, empowering them to use mass surveillance to kidnap and terrorize immigrants. Flock's contracts not only have proven to be extremely difficult for cities to terminate, but they also have prevented cities like Evanston, IL from being able to remove or disable their camera network, enabling Flock to continue amassing data on citizens and selling it to the highest bidder. Additionally, camera networks in general, and Flock's software and devices in particular, have been shown to be extremely vulnerable to hacking and cyber attacks. In an era where mass surveillance is being increasingly weaponized to inflict terror on vulnerable communities, to silence and repress voices of political dissent, and to amass an indefinitely large amount of information on everyone with countless horrific possibilities in the hands of an authoritarian state (which Flock has already been enabling in numerous cities across the US), Oakland City Council and OPD would be effectively gifting the Trump administration sensitive data on all of Oakland's citizens.
Please focus on spending public funds on social programs that will be much more effective at reducing crime in our city rather than signing up Oakland to an Orwellian future.

Councilmembers, my name is Dr. Kelan Thomas and I live and work as a psychiatric pharmacist in Oakland. I am emailing you to urge you to reject the OPD Community Safety Camera System use policy and FLOCK Safety Contract, as recommended by your appointed experts on the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission.

I am alarmed at the risks posed by OPD use of Flock surveillance systems that connect privately-owned Ring doorbells, business cameras, and drones into one nationwide tracking network—a network which ICE and other federal agencies have confirmed they can access for deportation investigations as recently as October 2025.

Sincerely,
Dr. Kelan Thomas, PharmD, MS, BCPP

Hello, I'm a resident in Grand Lake and I am opposed to the #2.3M FLOCK network purchase and the mass surveillance this technology would enable. I attended the Privacy Advisory Commission meeting in person on October 2nd and I heard the presentations and opinions presented. I was convinced that this technology has backdoors to enable the federal government to access the resulting data set, which would be comprised of not just license plate numbers but detailed "fingerprinting" of vehicles from high resolution photos, using AI technology, enabling all of us to be tracked for any purpose. Currently the Federal government has issued terrifyingly vague executive orders under which almost anyone could be prosecuted for "domestic terrorist" charges, only for expressing dissent on policies. Oakland, CA should not enable this. As I heard from the speakers, FLOCK has allowed misuse or unintended release of data, including to the Federal government, up to now. At the Privacy Advisory Commission meeting I became convinced that the guardrails to safeguard the data for the intended purposes are not nearly robust enough. My background is that I have worked at the National Laboratories as a scientist and project manager for over 25 years. The dataset captured by the camera network would be of very high value to actors who do not mean well for the citizens of Oakland. We should resist this temptation, and, we should reduce crime in Oakland using proven community centered methods.

Hi,
I’m a resident of East Oakland and am opposed to the mass surveillance of the public by private or public companies.
We have the right to be publicly anonymous in our public spaces and not be tracked, have our data mined, and our every move documented.

Further more Flock has a history of its equipment being easily hacked and its security systems are considered sub parr by industry standards.
Do not vote to continue, expand, or renew any contract with Flock.

I strongly urge the council to vote no on any Flock or similar surveillance contracts. This is essentially unchecked civilian surveillance with an organization that is already known for sharing information with ICE and Border Patrol. We do not need any further methods of profiling and putting our marginalized communities at further risk. This is a violation of Oakland stance as a sanctuary city, as well as a supreme violation of citizens right to privacy. Oakland should remove any and all Flock installations and put that money to better use in community safety nets such as food, housing, and children's programs.

As an Oakland resident with many friends in and ties to marginalized communities, I oppose any contract with Flock. I do not support the privatization of mass surveillance on our streets. I do not support tracking, recording, and storage of data relating to the free coming-and-going of my fellow citizens. Flock has shown themselves to not be transparent and honest when speaking to the public. They have shown themselves to not be responsive to concerns about the security of their software and devices. Flock has shown themselves to not deal honestly and respectfully with the local governments and communities in which they operate. The money that might be spent on this contract would be better spent on other community safety and security initiatives with proven long-term benefits.

Flock has been caught sharing data with ICE a number of times:
1. https://www.oakpark.com/2025/08/28/state-says-flock-safety-broke-the-law/
2. https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/flock-federal-immigration-agents-access-tracking-data/73-a8aee742-56d4-4a57-b5bb-0373286dfef8

The City’s Surveillance Technology Ordinance and departmental general orders (DGO I-12 & I-32.1) require annual audits, public reporting, and civilian review by both the Privacy Commission and City Council. This is exactly why a company that has routinely violated its own contract, would create more issues.

Oak Park and 5 other cities—Eugene, Evanston, Austin, Denver, and Sedona—terminated their Flock contracts in 2025. It might be helpful to understand why those cities did so. Public safety is important to implement, but how we do it, is just as important in the long run. Oakland has already continued to have success lowering crime through the ceasefire program, and stricter enforcement.

I am a homeowner in D4 and strongly oppose this recommendation. Please vote NO on this gross investment in surveillance and criminalization that will not keep anyone safe. This proposal is bigger than the license plate readers, according to Oakland Observer:

"The legislation before the Committee would transfer the CHP Flock contract for about 300 video camera license plate readers into City hands as the CHP’s contract ends, yes. But the OPD’s ambitions go much further. OPD is also requesting a Flock platform upgrade that would allow private camera integration and purchase and integration of a network of city owned Flock surveillance cameras—both with no functional upper limit. In its presentation to Council as well, OPD notes that the Flock upgrade would allow integration of existing and future capacities—that means OPD’s drones, but could include any innovation in Flock’s product line. Recently, for example, Flock debuted its new Shotspotter-esque Raven, which is designed to record not only gun shots, but voices in range of the device that are “in distress” as an enhancement of the visual Flock system."

The people of Oakland need investments in real solutions to violence, we need our government to address the underlying conditions that cause harm in our communities.

As an Oakland educator in majority low-income and Latino schools, I've seen students' attendance sadly decrease this semester, since their families are understandably too afraid of ICE-abduction to continue bringing their children to campus. Many of those youth rely on the school's meals to get fed enough during the week. Though Oakland is a Sanctuary City on paper, expanding Flock Surveillance will deepen the harms on our Immigrant neighbors, so I urge the Council to instead invest in truly safe ways to protect and enrich our communities.

I oppose the OPD Community Safety Camera System use policy and Flock Safety Contract as a gross violation of our physical and digital privacy and safety.
1) Flock's video management system can co-opt private security cameras without explicit consent, effectively turning small business security systems into extensions of a national surveillance network.
2) Flock had already been caught sharing data, directly or indirectly, with ICE, the Secret Service, and the US Navy.
3) Flock makes Oakland a data source for out-of-state prosecutors targeting people seeing reproductive health care and gender affirming care.

24/7 AI assisted surveillance is an extremely powerful technology.

The proposal hands that technology over to OPD that has been under federal oversight for 20 years and continues to be, citing “failures to uphold basic standards of internal affairs,” the inability to police themselves.

We’ve had 5 police chiefs in 5 yrs, police bribe witnesses and lie under oath, fire their weapons in elevators and cover up hit-and-run accidents. And that was just 2023. In 2016 we had an OPD chief cover up sexual misconduct of multiple officers including sex with a minor. We had the Oakland Rider’s in the 90’s and 00’s who beat and brutalized the community and planted evidence. You’re not just handing this technology over to the current OPD, you’re handing it to the next one too, and given that 20 years of oversight hasn’t seemed to change much from the days of the Rider’s, I don’t see why you think it will in the future, Especially when our current police department is fighting civilian oversight.

The presentation in today’s agenda, OPD cherry-picks pandemic-era data to claim crime was reduced by 41-53% after the installation of FLOCK cameras in '24 and in '23-25 a 66% decrease in carjackings and robberies. Except when compared to pre-2020 numbers, there is no statistical difference.

This reduction in crime makes sense; people have been able to go back to work and school, keep their homes and pay their bills – all things that drove crime. Again, education, housing, healthcare.