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Burbank police defend Flock camera program as residents urge contract review
Summary
Police Chief Rafael Quintero told the City Council that the department’s Flock license‑plate reader system does not share data with ICE and highlighted recovery statistics; dozens of residents urged the council to end the contract, citing privacy and immigration enforcement concerns.
Police Chief Rafael Quintero told the Burbank City Council on Dec. 9 that the city’s Flock automated license‑plate reader system is designed to collect vehicle information only and ‘‘we do not share any data with ICE,’’ part of a broad presentation aimed at addressing community concerns. Quintero said staff moved from a prior vendor (Vigilant) to Flock after deactivating a prior sharing feature and that the city allocated $150,000 in the 2025 budget for additional camera deployments.
The chief described safeguards, saying the system collects vehicle make/model, license plate and vehicle attributes, follows AES‑256 encryption, adheres to cybersecurity standards, and includes a transparency portal the department published the same day. He credited the technology with assisting investigations, citing internal tallies that, over a short period, included more than 80 stolen vehicles recovered, over 200 criminal arrests and at least six gun arrests.
Residents used the council’s general comment period to press a very different view. Multiple speakers urged Burbank to cancel its Flock contract, saying the vendor’s default settings and past incidents elsewhere allowed sharing with immigration authorities. Mike Stage, a caller and former Burbank resident, said the technology ‘‘can and will be abused’’ and urged council to ‘‘break the contract if you have to.’’ Several callers cited public records or cases from other cities they said showed Flock or similar data had been accessed by federal immigration agencies.
Council members pressed the police chief for specifics about the earlier 2023 Freedom of Information Act and Department of Justice materials the public had circulated. Quintero said the previous system had a manual sharing feature and that staff deactivated the problematic function; he added staff are scheduling a focused January meeting with up to three community representatives and command staff to address recurring concerns and keep communications centralized.
The discussion produced no immediate policy change. Council members repeatedly invited residents to submit specific incidents and records so staff can review them; staff promised follow‑up and a public meeting in January. Quintero also pointed residents to a transparency portal for the city’s Flock deployment and policies.
