License Plate Readers

Flock’s California State Lookup Tool Lets Agencies Search Data After Direct Sharing Is Turned Off

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In July 2026, the San Leandro Police Department stopping sharing license plate reader data with the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC). This came after the San Francisco Police Department reported hundreds of illegal queries of its license plate reader data by out-of-state and federal agencies in June 2026.

Sharing of license plate reader data with out-of-state and federal agencies was prohibited by a California law that went into effect in 2016.

However, at the September 16, 2026, meeting of the San Leandro Community Police Review Board, San Leandro Assistant Police Chief Luis Torres reported that an audit by IntegrAssure in early September, the independent police auditor showed that NCRIC had made queries of San Leandro’s license plate reader data. It was at this point that San Leandro Police Department staff realized that the NCRIC has been able to access San Leandro license plate reader data because of the California state lookup tool.

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Uncategorized

Oakland Privacy Seeks 2027 Fellow

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Join us as our 2027 Privacy Rights Fellow. This part-time stipended fellowship is an exciting opportunity to apply and practice privacy in the field. We are grateful for the support of the Omidyar Foundation for supporting this upcoming fellowship. The 2027 Fellowship will require approximately 20 hours a week and be stipended at $2,000/month.

This year’s fellowship will focus on legislative analysis, popular education and educational archiving.

Full description and application are below.

Applications are due September 30th.

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Immigration and ICE, License Plate Readers, Public Records

Federal Agencies Accessing Motorola License Plate Reader Data

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According to public records from dozens of California law enforcement agencies, there are at least 55 federal agencies accessing license plate reader data from Motorola license plate readers.

Federal law enforcement agencies with access to this license plate reader data include the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Department of Justice (DoJ), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). But the agcncies with such access include some that may surprise you: Federal Trade Commission, Forest Service, US Marine Corps, and US Patent and Trademark Office.

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Transparency Ordinance

Vacancies on Oakland’s Privacy Commission

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If you live in the City of Oakland and care about privacy rights and surveillance, please consider a volunteer position on the city’s privacy commission. There are a number of vacancies, with more coming in March of 2027, and it is really important for this commission to stay healthy.

You don’t have to be an expert. By design, this is a citizen’s commission. Things that it may be helpful to be familiar with include municipal processes like the Brown Act, Oakland’s geography and demographics, state privacy laws, concepts like disparate impact, and general understanding of technology. But a willingness to learn is the most important thing.

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Fusion Centers, License Plate Readers

Alameda Co. Sheriff Discovers Illegal Sharing of License Plate Reader Data

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At a meeting of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on June 30, 2026, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office stated that an audit from May 2025 to May 2026 found 140 unauthorized searches of their license plate reader data. As a result of these unauthorized searches, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office stopped sharing with two agencies and is now conducting weekly audits of its license plate reader program.

During a staff presentation on consolidation of contracts with Flock Safety for license plate readers, pan-tilt-zoom surveillance cameras and drones, Sergeant Fenton Culley at first didn’t name the agencies, which were later identified as the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC) and the Western States Information Network (WSIN) by Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez. NCRIC is a fusion center covering most of northern California and WSIN is a private organization for sharing law enforcement data in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Canada, Guam, and New Zealand.

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