Hello ,
Tuesday Dec 9, 2pm is the City Council vote on Flock license plate readers.
City Administration Building
202 C Street, 10th Floor
San Diego, CA 92101
If you can’t make it in person you can submit a public comment here:
Agenda Comment Form | City of San Diego Official Website
News coverage from last week:
https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/san-diego/community-groups-call-on-san-diego-to-shut-down-flock-license-plate-reader-system/
Some quotes from the press event:
Sean Elo-Rivera, City Council
“Flock’s license plate readers is a tool that has been continuously abused and caused immense harm and eroded trust. Flock is a proven bad actor that shows either an unwillingness or an inability to prevent their powerful tool from being abused.”
“Flock’s pattern of behavior and the pattern of abuse of its technology makes it impossible for me to trust them or for me to tell San Diegans they should trust Flock with information about their every move.”
“Our residents deserve the confidence that sensitive information of their lives and their families’ lives will not be misused or simply handed over to a fascist federal government that ignores the law and violates the constitution on a daily basis. Flock is not worthy of that confidence.”
“It seems unacceptable to me that we would unnecessarily expose these good honest law abiding people to the risk of giving a cruel and lawless federal government another tool to violate their rights and tear families apart.”
“If San Diego chooses to collect information, then San Diego must safeguard it, under local control guided by our values and with transparency that reassures every neighborhood that their rights matter.”
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Henry Foster, City Council
“The San Diego police officer that led this initiative, that led bringing this technology to the city of San Diego, is now an employee of Flock. There is something extremely wrong with how this was done.”
“Here in San Diego, we learned that our ALPR database was left open to outside agencies. This access led to thousands of searches by non-local law enforcement.”
“When other cities and states are experiencing the same issues, it tells us this is not a one-time mistake. It reflects a deeper pattern and raises concerns about how this company Flock handles information.”
“We need assurances, strong protections and transparency if we are going to use any system that collects information about our residents’ daily movements. We must find the safest and most responsible path forward. And this means we must re-evaluate the city’s relationship with Flock, to ensure that the city partners with a vendor that respects our residents, that simply follows the law.”
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Brigette Browning, Labor Council
“Nobody should be OK with the gestapo police state that is being formed right now in this country. This is about forming a mass surveillance network so that the hostile federal government can take over everything, and we are paying the price for it.”
“Flock has failed to meet its pledge to protect all law-abiding people against unjust and illegal searches. We should all care about the constitution right now.”
They were caught sharing data with other law enforcement agencies across California and shared data with HSI and CBP at least 10 times that we know about. There’s probably other times that we don’t know about.”
“The mass surveillance of American citizens or residents of any of our communities is not a sustainable method to prevent crime or keep people safe.”
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Chris Wilson, United Domestic Workers
“The City of San Diego should immediately cease participating in these practices, these policies, and relationships with these businesses that take advantage of our people and oppress us in the process.”
“Stop placing wealth and profit over the privacy of our lives and the lives of friends and our families and our members. End the use of these license plate readers, end the relationship with this company, and end the relationship with these oppressive businesses today. Get the Flock Out.”
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Branden Sigua, ACLU-SDIC
“We must end the FLock Safety ALPR contract now. We must use the millions of dollars used in the installation and implementation of this dangerous technology to fund proven solutions to public safety like affordable housing access to medical care, food security and child care.
“San Diegans don’t need more watchful eyes. They need a helping hand. We urge the San Diego City Council to end the contract with Flock safety.”
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Patricia Mondragon, Alliance SD
“This is a mass surveillance pipeline. A digital dragnet that puts immigrant families directly in harms way by using predictive intelligence systems that work like a domestic spy agency.”
“Ending the Flock contract is more than a policy choice. It is a declaration that San Diego values privacy dignity and community trust.”
THIS SATURDAY
While you’re here, remember to register for our annual party this Saturday, Dec 13. https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/annual-party-2
Food and drinks will be provided. Please feel free to bring a plate of treats to share. Friends are welcome too!
The party is FREE to attend but we kindly ask that you take a moment to join or renew your 2026 DWC membership here: Memberships
See you soon!
Cathie Hyatt
DWC President