""While the Flock Safety pilot program demonstrated clear value in enhancing our ability to protect our community and help us solve crimes, I personally no longer have confidence in this particular vendor. Like many of you, I was deeply disappointed to learn that Flock Safety did not meet the City's requirements regarding our data access control and transparency," Canfield said in a statement he issued today (Feb. 2)."
"Flock cameras take hundreds of pictures a second of license plates. When a computer stitches the pictures together, it is able to provide information on the daily travels of average citizens, including those not suspected of any crime. When Mountain View City Council approved the installation of Flock cameras in May 2024, police said the system would help them investigate car break-ins and home burglaries. Police promised they would follow strict protocols to protect privacy and prevent federal agencies from accessing the city's Flock data."
Mountain View Police Chief Mike Canfield decided to turn off the city's Flock automated license plate readers after federal law enforcement agencies improperly accessed data generated in the city. The cameras will remain off until the Feb. 24 City Council meeting. Flock cameras capture hundreds of license plate images per second and can reveal daily travel patterns of residents, including those not suspected of crimes. Installed in May 2024, police said the system would aid investigations into car break-ins and burglaries and promised strict protocols to protect privacy. Multiple federal agencies accessed data from August to November 2024 without police permission.
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