Alameda County supervisors OK Flock extension

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday to approve a contract extension with Flock Safety, a controversial automated license plate reader company, despite ongoing debate surrounding data security.

The split vote extends the county's partnership with Flock Safety through the end of next year. Board members had previously delayed voting on the matter to address mounting concerns over how the company handles and secures surveillance data.

Supervisors who voted against the extension argued that those security anxieties remain entirely valid. While acknowledging that the license plate reading technology can be a helpful tool for law enforcement, dissenting board members maintained that Flock Safety has proven to be an untrustworthy corporate partner.

"These are not normal times, as someone said," said District 5 Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas, who voted against the measure. "This is not a normal presidency, and this is a company that there is a lot of distrust around."

Conversely, the three supervisors who voted in favor of the extension asserted that the county has established adequate guardrails to protect public data.

"I don't believe that they're widely used by ICE, as it's been shown that it's happened, I don't think it's widely used by the federal government, I don't think it's used to surveil people," said Board President and District 1 Supervisor David Haubert.

The extension serves as a temporary measure. 

Once this contract concludes at the end of next year, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office will have the opportunity to scout alternative technology vendors providing similar services. Moving forward, supervisors would then be able to draft new contract language establishing significantly stricter data privacy protections from the ground up.