Chico council to review police license plate reader access

Our Take

Credit to Action News Now for flagging this one: Chico's city council isn't just rubber-stamping its Flock contract renewal, it's demanding a report on who actually gets access to the city's automated license plate reader network. That's the right instinct, and more councils should be asking the same question before, not after, a system goes live. These cameras log every passing vehicle, and once that data exists, it rarely stays contained to the agency that installed it.

The specific worry here is one we've been tracking nationally: local ALPR networks quietly becoming backdoor data pipelines for federal immigration and law enforcement agencies that never had to go through a city council, a public hearing, or any local oversight at all. Flock's own audit trails have shown out-of-state and federal searches hitting local systems, often for purposes that have nothing to do with why the city bought the cameras in the first place. A report is a good first step, but the real test is whether Chico locks down sharing agreements and makes the audit logs public, not just promises transparency and moves on.

If you're in Chico or anywhere else wondering what's watching your street, check our camera map to see what's already deployed near you, and use our take-action guide if you want to push your own council toward real guardrails instead of a quiet rubber stamp.