Flock Cameras in Berkeley, California

The current Berkeley Flock setup

Berkeley approved a Flock Safety automated license plate reader program in 2023 as a two-year trial. The city staff memo asked for authority to contract with Flock for $179,500 in year one and $165,000 in year two, with the total contract amount not to exceed $425,000.

The system was built around 52 fixed ALPR cameras for the Berkeley Police Department. City materials said the vendor had a 30-day retention policy, a transparency portal, and policies intended to align with Berkeley's prohibition on sharing with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and with TRUST Act requirements.

Berkeleyside reported in 2023 that the City Council approved up to $425,000 for Flock to run the ALPR program and that the council expected to revisit the program after the two-year trial.

What happened in May 2026

In May 2026, Berkeley's council split the question in two. Local coverage from Berkeleyside and NBC Bay Area reported that the city renewed the existing Flock license plate reader contract for 12 months, at a cost of up to about $200,000, but rejected a separate proposal to expand Berkeley's surveillance network.

Berkeleyside reported that the council voted 8-1 to abandon the larger expansion for now, while narrowly keeping the 52 ALPR cameras for another year. NBC Bay Area reported the renewal passed 5-4 and the expansion was rejected 8-1.

That distinction matters. Berkeley did not end Flock use. It kept the plate readers while saying no, at least temporarily, to a broader Flock-centered platform.

What the rejected expansion included

The March 2026 public safety technology packet described a larger ecosystem that could combine ALPRs, fixed video cameras, community video streams, drones, analysts, and investigative software. Berkeley police argued that one Flock ecosystem would give the department one dashboard, one audit trail, consolidated alerts, and faster investigative workflows.

The Police Accountability Board saw the same package differently. Its March 2026 recommendations warned that putting ALPRs, fixed cameras, community feeds, and aerial drones on one platform under one vendor would be the largest expansion of Berkeley Police Department surveillance capacity in the city's history.

The board recommended deferring final action, said the city lacked a combined assessment of the integrated system, and raised concerns about single-vendor concentration, lock-in, data rights, and whether Berkeley had enough leverage before signing.

Why residents pushed back

The public fight was not only about license plate readers. It was about what happens when a city adds more camera types, more data streams, and more real-time tools to the same vendor platform.

Berkeleyside reported that roughly 100 residents, activists, advocates, current and former officials, and groups including the ACLU of Northern California and the Council on American Islamic Relations rallied against the Flock contracts before the May vote. The concerns included privacy, immigration enforcement, protest monitoring, reproductive health investigations, and whether Berkeley's sanctuary commitments could be protected in practice.

NBC Bay Area reported that critics questioned whether data could be shared with federal agencies such as ICE, while a Flock spokesperson told councilmembers the company had changed its system to prevent information from being shared outside California.

The oversight questions Berkeley still has to answer

For residents, the practical question is what the 12-month renewal requires before the next vote. The useful documents to watch are the renewal agreement, data-sharing settings, audit-log reviews, hotlist rules, camera-location records, search counts, and any public reports showing how often the system was used and for which case types.

The Police Accountability Board materials also point to contract issues that should be tracked in any future Flock vote: anonymized data rights, assignment if Flock is acquired, remedies for unauthorized access or sharing, whether outside agencies can query Berkeley data, and whether the city can unwind the system cleanly.

Berkeley's case is not a simple anti-camera story. It is a reminder that an ALPR renewal can quietly become the foundation for a much larger surveillance architecture unless the city forces each layer into public view.

Sources used

City of Berkeley, Contract: Flock Safety to Provide ALPR Cameras Services Pursuant to Resolution No. 71,013-N.S., October 10, 2023: https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023-10-10%20Item%2008%20Contract%20Flock%20Safety%20to%20Provide%20ALPR.pdf

City of Berkeley, Public Safety Technology Update packet, March 24, 2026, posted for the May 7, 2026 special item: https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/2026-04/2026-05-07%20Special%20Item%2001a%20Public%20Safety%20Technology%20Surveillance.pdf

Berkeley Police Accountability Board, Flock Safety vendor concerns and surveillance technology recommendations, March 18, 2026: https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/March%2018,%202026%20PAB%20Recommendations_Surveillance%20Tech.pdf

Berkeleyside, Berkeley rejects police surveillance expansion, will keep Flock plate readers, May 8, 2026: https://www.berkeleyside.org/2026/05/08/flock-safety-berkeley-surveillance-cameras-drones-nova-community-video-streams

NBC Bay Area, Berkeley renews Flock camera contract, rejects expansion plan, May 2026: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/berkeley-renews-flock-camera-contract/4081793/

Berkeleyside, Berkeley moves forward with plan to install license plate readers, October 11, 2023: https://www.berkeleyside.org/2023/10/11/berkeley-license-plate-surveillance-cameras-alprs-approved