Pacific Grove police outline Flock license‑plate program; residents split on privacy and safety
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Summary
The police department reviewed its ‘Flock’ license‑plate reader program (contract approved March 2023), describing 30‑day retention, audit controls, and a list of approved local law‑enforcement partners. Public comment included both support for the system's role in solving crimes and calls for stronger guardrails on data sharing and use.
The Pacific Grove Police Department gave an update on its contract with Flock Safety, the automated license‑plate reader (LPR) vendor the city approved in March 2023.
Commander Anderson said the system captures vehicle license‑plate data and limited ancillary information to support investigations and is not used for facial recognition or to collect personally identifying information beyond plates. “FlockWorks is a public‑safety tool that captures vehicle license plate data and other limited information to support law enforcement investigations,” Anderson said; he described auditing procedures and said access is logged and audited regularly.
Anderson said the department restricts uses that are prohibited by policy—immigration enforcement, traffic enforcement as a primary use, harassment or targeting of protected classes, and personal use—and that access is limited to approved local law‑enforcement partners within the region. He read a list of agencies that currently have access, including Monterey PD, CHP, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Carmel PD, Salinas PD and others. He said Flock has not been served with a federal search warrant for Pacific Grove data to date.
Public commenters were divided. Resident Debbie Beck described cases where LPRs assisted investigations and urged the city to retain and consider expanding the network. Helen Ingram urged stronger contractual and policy guardrails and noted national reports of data sharing and misuse, including cases she said involved reproductive‑health investigations and federal access in other jurisdictions.
Council members asked about data retention and sharing. Anderson said the standard retention period in the agreement is 30 days and that council can set a different retention period as a local policy decision. He said requests from federal immigration authorities would be denied by the department unless accompanied by a lawful process such as a court order; he said the most common method for external access is a legal process served to the vendor.
No final policy change was adopted at the meeting. Commander Anderson said staff will report back with additional information if council directs it.
