Quick Take
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.
Flock is out, at least in the City of Santa Cruz.
The Santa Cruz City Council has voted to terminate its contract with Flock Safety and stop using the Atlanta-based company’s automatic license plate readers, following numerous data breaches and strong community pushback.
Tuesday’s 6-1 vote – with Councilmember Sonja Brunner voting against – allows the city to terminate the agreement with 30 days’ notice, which means the end of the contract could be Feb. 12 at the earliest. The city’s contract was previously scheduled to expire on March 27.
The motion also directed staff to explore possibly reinstalling the technology in the future if they can find a vendor with stronger local controls and better privacy safeguards.
Councilmembers Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson, Renee Golder and Susie O’Hara recommended dropping the contract in a council agenda report last week. Staff were working on amendments to the city’s contract with Flock, the councilmembers cut that process short, writing that “risk cannot be adequately mitigated under the current vendor relationship and federal administration,” and urging the city to explore other vendors and safeguards.
Flock cameras have become a hot topic locally and nationwide following data breaches and privacy concerns. The city announced in November that it would pause its participation in a statewide system that shares data from license plate cameras among law enforcement agencies; Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante said Flock Safety violated a California law earlier in 2025. The company’s national search tool had allowed out-of-state law enforcement agencies to access license plate data collected by agencies in California, including data from Santa Cruz.
In November, Capitola Police Chief Sarah Ryan confirmed that federal and out-of-state law enforcement agencies accessed data collected by its cameras on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement between 2024 and early 2025.
Additionally, a Georgia police chief searched Capitola’s Flock Safety camera data in early 2025, according to data compiled by countywide grassroots organization Get The Flock Out (GTFO), which opposes the cameras. The chief had been arrested on charges that he used his city’s automated license plate recognition cameras to stalk and harass private citizens. GTFO also found that state agencies accessed Santa Cruz camera data thousands of times on behalf of federal law enforcement agencies since 2024.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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