Anti-Flock group finds that state agencies accessed SCPD camera data thousands of times on feds’ behalf since mid-2024

California law enforcement agencies searched Santa Cruz’s Flock Safety camera data on behalf of federal agencies thousands of times over the past approximately 18 months, according to data compiled by the countywide grassroots coalition Get The Flock Out (GTFO), which opposes the cameras. 

However, Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante said it’s difficult to determine how many of those searches were related to immigration enforcement.

Flock cameras are artificial intelligence-powered cameras positioned in public spots in Santa Cruz, Capitola and Watsonville that most commonly gather and store license plate data and vehicle information.

GTFO obtained the searches via public records requests to the City of Santa Cruz. They show that in-state law enforcement agencies searched Santa Cruz’s Flock camera data more than 3,700 times between June 2024 and August 2025 with search terms related to immigration and customs enforcement. “HSI,” or “Homeland Security investigation,” was the search reason for more than 2,700 of those, while “ICE” – shorthand for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – was the search reason for nearly 900 others. Other search reasons include but were not limited to “border,” “CBP” (Customs and Border Protection) and “immigration.”

The searches came from numerous police departments across the state, including Newport Beach, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, Anaheim, Riverside County, Mountain View, Baldwin Park, Bakersfield and Orange County. 

It is not certain that this data ended up being relayed to federal agencies, but because many of these search reasons imply federal immigration enforcement, GTFO argues that they could be in violation of California state law, specifically Senate Bills 34 and 54. The former bars police from sharing data with out-of-state agencies, and the latter limits the use of local resources to assist federal immigration enforcement.

In November, Escalante told a Santa Cruz City Council meeting that Flock Safety, the Georgia-based provider of the cameras, disclosed earlier this year that it had violated California law by allowing out-of-state law enforcement agencies to use a national search tool to access license plate data collected by California agencies.

As a result, the city said it would allow other state agencies to access local data only on a case-by-case basis, and that it would stop participating in Flock’s statewide sharing portal. Flock had also said it has deactivated its national search tool and added protections against searches related to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol and other keywords involving immigration enforcement.

Escalante said Monday that while the department has taken steps to prevent or limit the sharing of city data, these searches might not be related to immigration enforcement. For example, he said, investigations by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security can be related to a plethora of situations, including drug smuggling, cyberattacks and terrorism on top of immigration enforcement.

“We’d need to actually peel back the layers much deeper on a lot of this stuff,” he said, but added that SCPD is committed to keeping the city’s data from federal agencies. “We don’t want other agencies using our photos or data for the purposes of immigration enforcement, which is a clear violation of the law.”

A GTFO member and retired security professional, who requested not to be named out of fear of retaliation, said he’s aware that very well might be true, but that the broad-based searches show that “it’s dangerous to collect this data at all,” especially given the security concerns surrounding Flock.

Escalante said that while the city is still planning to discuss further changes to its contract with Flock in January, the measures the department has taken in recent weeks should be adequate to protect the data.

“We’re working hard to put protective measures in place to be able to continue to utilize the equipment with the trust of the community, and not in the way that it has been perceived,” he said.

Still, the continued security concerns surrounding Flock Safety cameras and documented misuse of the system, such as when a Georgia police chief searched Capitola data unlawfully, remain a hot topic among the community. At Tuesday’s Santa Cruz City Council meeting, camera opponents urged the city to drop its contract with Flock Safety altogether, rather than simply amend its contract with the company.

“This company is not really taking care of our data, we haven’t seen our data handled in a responsible way by this company, nor frankly — and I’m sorry to say it — by our police departments,” said GTFO leader Ami Chen Mills at Tuesday’s meeting. “My concern is that we have so many violations already. We have regulations in place to stop them, and the data is being breached regardless.”

Sean Dougherty, who is running for Congress in 2026 against U.S. Rep Jimmy Panetta, said he “can’t believe” the city is still considering renewing its contract with Flock. He said just the one instance of Flock’s national search tool being turned on should be enough to terminate the contract.

“There’s no assurance you can give me that will make me trust this system,” he said. “I have yet to see anyone from the community begging for you to keep these cameras and renew this contract, the community doesn’t want this.”

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