The Flock surveillance camera debate isn't dead: City Council will vote

"The Oakland Police Department is again proposing a new $2.25 million, two-year contract with Flock Safety. The Georgia-based company already owns and operates almost 300 license plate reader cameras throughout Oakland. OPD uses data collected from these scans to investigate crimes. Some private neighborhood groups have installed their own Flock cameras, too. In November, the Oakland City Council's Public Safety Committee declined to move the contract proposal forward. But the police department brought it back to the council's Rules and Legislation Committee, which handles scheduling, on Thursday, saying Oakland's current contract with Flock has expired, so time is of the essence."

"City spokesperson Jean Walsh told us Oakland uses Flock cameras through an agreement with the California Highway Patrol. The expectation, she said, was that Oakland would begin its own direct contract with the company in April of this year. We've asked for clarification on who's been paying for the Oakland cameras since then. After hearing OPD's recommendation, the Rules committee agreed to place the contract on the agenda for Tuesday's full City Council meeting, skipping over the Public Safety Committee this time."

"The Rules committee includes councilmembers Kevin Jenkins, Rowena Brown, Carroll Fife, and Janani Ramachandran. Fife voted against the Flock item. "I'm in full support of the community's desire...to have cameras as a support system for our community safety efforts," she said. But she said Flock is not the company Oakland should go into business with. "This vendor has shown time and again that they'll just thwart the rule of law," she said."

Oakland Police Department proposes a $2.25 million, two-year contract with Flock Safety to operate license plate reader cameras citywide. Flock already operates almost 300 cameras in Oakland and OPD uses scanned plate data to investigate crimes; some private neighborhood groups also have Flock cameras. The proposal was declined earlier by the City Council's Public Safety Committee but was reintroduced to the Rules and Legislation Committee because the existing contract expired. City spokesperson Jean Walsh said Oakland uses Flock through a California Highway Patrol agreement and expected a direct contract in April. The Rules committee advanced the item to the full City Council. Councilmember Carroll Fife opposed the contract, citing concerns that Flock undermines legal norms. Richmond recently shut down its Flock system after discovering an active national-search feature.

Read at The Oaklandside