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 automated license plate readers, following numerous data breaches and strong community pushback.
FLOCK SAFETY CAMERAS: Read Lookout’s news and Community Voices opinion coverage here
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.
Mayor Fred Keeley said he voted against the first contract two years ago, and that he doesn’t believe the council is remotely close to finding an entity that could provide the technology while protecting privacy.
“If somebody wants to give it a try, they can do that,” he said. “But I will probably vote against that if it ever arrives here during my remaining time as mayor.”
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.
In more than an hour of public comment Tuesday, support was unanimous for dropping the contract, with most saying that Flock has proved itself to be untrustworthy. Further, concerned residents said mass surveillance is always a bad idea, regardless of the political climate. They also spoke against the idea of bringing a similar type of technology back via a different vendor, as the same privacy concerns still apply.
The only person who spoke in support of staying in the contract was Sgt. Joshua Trog of the Santa Cruz Police Department, who spoke on behalf of the Santa Cruz Police Officers’ Association. He said community concerns surrounding privacy are valid, but law enforcement officers are losing what they believe to be an effective tool, which “affects their ability to do their jobs with confidence, precision and consistency over time.”
Prior to voting no, Brunner offered a lengthy substitute motion that she believed could allow the contract to continue with privacy safeguards, and to not get rid of what she believes is a strong public safety tool. It involved discontinuing the sharing of data with all jurisdictions except local law enforcement agencies and adjoining counties that would promise not to perform searches on behalf of the federal government, and enforcing this with independent audits and reviews of all internal data systems. No councilmember seconded the motion.
O’Hara said that Flock’s leadership has made too many mistakes and dismissed concerns far too often for city officials to feel comfortable, and that Flock CEO Garrett Langley has responded poorly to criticism.
“The question isn’t whether we trust our own intent or even our own officers’ intent. It’s whether we can guarantee our data won’t be used in ways that conflict with Santa Cruz values and create fear in our community,” she said. “Right now, we do not believe we can, and that is why termination is necessary.”
Golder said that “it’s disappointing that we’ve gotten to this point.” She said she worried that the vote would take away a useful law enforcement tool, but understands the fear permeating the community.
“I do support technology to support our police department, but I do agree with my fellow councilmembers in a lack of trust and transparency with this particular company,” she said. “I hope that moving forward, we’ll find technology that we can use to help keep community members safe.”
Kalantari-Johnson told Lookout after the vote that while she previously voted in favor of the Flock contract, the current political environment and new information about the company made her reconsider.
“Maybe those violations have happened within our own communities, but they hadn’t been daylighted,” she said, adding that she had no reason at the time to not want to support local law enforcement. “I appreciate the work on the safeguards, but it just wasn’t enough for me with this.”
After the vote, Jill Clifton, a representative from Get The Flock Out, a countywide grassroots coalition organizing against the cameras, told Lookout that the group is pleased with the vote.
“We’re really happy that they listened, shared our concerns, and were courageous to go back on the decision to put them up in the first place,” she said.
As Capitola and Watsonville still have Flock contracts, Clifton said the group is planning to continue having community conversations about the issues with the camera system.
It was not immediately clear when the city’s cameras would be taken down or deactivated. Lookout has reached out to City Manager Matt Huffaker for comment.
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