Saratoga study session exposes split over Flock Safety license-plate cameras after county blocks sheriff access

Saratoga's city council held a study session focused on automatic license-plate readers (ALPRs) and the vendor Flock Safety, where officials and residents debated privacy risks, vendor practices and recent county policy changes that have left the sheriff temporarily unable to access camera data.

Acting city manager (speaker 2) told the council that Saratoga introduced ALPR in 2022 as a one-year pilot and has since expanded to 72 cameras, with 65 paid for by neighborhood assessment districts and seven funded by the general fund. He said the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors recently amended its surveillance use policy; as a result, the sheriff's office cannot currently access data from the city's Flock cameras, although the cameras remain physically in place and neighborhoods continue to pay for the service.

Captain Neil Valenzuela of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said the county's ALPR policy includes a 30-day rolling retention for plate images, frequent audits, training requirements and annual reporting to the Board of Supervisors. He described ALPR as a vehicle-focused investigative tool, not facial-recognition technology, and recounted cases where ALPR hits helped deputies locate stolen vehicles, apprehend suspects and recover stolen property. "We want to…