Did Elk Grove Police Potentially Violate State Law With Flock Cameras? #elkgrovenews
The short version: A resident audit claims Elk Grove PD's Flock cameras may violate California law, and that's exactly the kind of accountability this technology needs.
Our Take
Credit to ElkGroveNews for covering this one, because it's a story we need more of: a regular resident doing the homework local government should've done before signing a Flock contract. According to the report, a resident-led audit turned up what was called "reasonable evidence" that Elk Grove's ALPR deployment may run afoul of state law. We don't know yet how this shakes out legally, but the fact that it took a private citizen's audit to raise the question tells you everything about how little oversight these systems get once they're installed.
This is the pattern across the country: a city council approves Flock cameras with vague promises about catching stolen cars, and then the actual usage — who can query the data, how long it's retained, whether out-of-state or federal agencies get access — goes unexamined for months or years. California has some of the stronger ALPR statutes on paper, with requirements around usage policies and audits. Whether Elk Grove is actually complying is a separate question, and it's one local reporters and residents are right to keep pushing on.
If you live near a Flock camera and want to see what's actually been deployed around you, check our camera map, and if you want to push your own council to answer these same questions, our take-action page has a starting point.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of ElkGroveNews, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.