Palo Alto is moving closer to replacing its 30 Flock Safety license plate cameras after City Council members signaled at their Aug. 24 meeting that they have lost confidence in the company behind the system.
Mayor Vicki Veenker said the council is “unlikely to retain Flock” and that the direction is clear, according to the Palo Alto Daily Post.
The council directed City Manager Ed Shikada and the city’s independent police auditor, OIR Group, to evaluate alternative vendors as OIR conducts a 90-day audit of the system. Council members asked for information on alternatives before the audit is completed if possible.
No formal vote to terminate the contract occurred. But several council members expressed distrust of Flock and its CEO, Garrett Langley.
Councilman Ed Lauing said he does not trust Langley. Councilwoman Julie Lythcott-Haims said, “Flock changed the capabilities of a surveillance system that the city entrusted to it, and the city didn’t know it was happening. I do not think it’s smart to continue operating that system.”
What Flock did
The controversy traces to a “nationwide search” feature Flock activated without the city’s permission in late 2023. The setting made Palo Alto’s license plate data searchable by out-of-state and federal agencies even though California law restricts that sharing.
Flock disabled the feature in October 2024, and the Palo Alto Police Department said it did not learn the feature had been active until December 2025. Flock has said no Palo Alto data was actually obtained through a nationwide search.
Regional exodus
Palo Alto would join several Bay Area jurisdictions that have already cut ties with Flock.
Mountain View terminated its contract in February. Stanford University dropped Flock on Aug. 4, replacing it with a Genetec system that stores data for less than an hour and blocks third-party access. Santa Cruz, Los Altos Hills and the Santa Clara County Sheriff have also ended their Flock agreements.
Nationally, more than 50 cities and law enforcement agencies have canceled, suspended or rejected Flock contracts in 2026, according to the grassroots monitoring group DeFlock, as reported by The Independent.
What’s at stake
The city’s Flock contract, signed in 2023, runs through December 2029 and costs about $93,500 per year, according to Palo Alto Online. Terminating the contract for convenience would cost $15,000 in removal fees.
About a third of the contract cost over the next two years is covered by a state grant aimed at combating organized retail theft.
Police Chief James Reifschneider has cited more than 130 cases since 2024 in which the cameras served as key evidence, along with a 13% drop in residential burglaries and a 24% drop in auto burglaries.
Privacy concerns, however, have dominated much of the public debate. A coalition called Safety Over Surveillance Palo Alto, comprising 11 local organizations, has pushed for removal. At the June 1 council meeting, more than two dozen residents spoke against the contract.
The council has not set a date for a final decision on whether to terminate the Flock contract. OIR’s audit is expected to take about 90 days, while council members asked staff to return sooner with information about alternative vendors if possible.
