FILE ART - Flock camera on a street captures photos of license plates.
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco’s Flock Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) network has been queried on behalf of out-of-state and federal agencies, validating fears that many privacy advocates have had about the program.
The San Francisco Police Department on Wednesday stated that an audit of the network showed the network had been accessed by multiple agencies. The release states that neither Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nor the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had not been identified as making the requests.
California law does not allow law enforcement agencies to share ALPR information with out-of-state or federal agencies.
Who's asking
Dig deeper:
The requests made to the San Francisco network were simultaneously made to between 531 and 763 other law enforcement agencies.
"During a routine compliance audit in May, SFPD officials found that the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC) had queried SFPD’s Flock network on behalf of federal and out-of-state agencies. There were 299 improper inquiries over approximately one year, which accounts for 0.005% of inquiries over that period," the release states.
SFPD Chief Derrick Lew, upon discovering the improper searches, turned off the NCRIC access to the network and initiated an internal review.
Further investigation revealed that the improper searches were conducted by analysts with the Western States Information Network, which provides analytical support and coordination with out-of-state and federal law enforcement agencies.
Privacy advocates
The other side:
An Oakland-based law firm in February filed a class-action lawsuit against Flock, alleging the company’s license plate reading cameras are violating the law and the privacy of California residents.
"The problem that we allege is that Flock is sharing this information on California drivers with out-of-state law enforcement and the federal government, which is illegal under California law," David Berger, one of the lawyers who brought the case, told KTVU.
Berger and his partners believe Flock allowed out-of state agencies to search the SFPD’s database more than 1.6 million times over a seven-month period. Their suit claims the number of outside searches in nearby Los Altos was also more than a million.
Some departments, like Mountain View, found violations and immediately terminated their Flock contracts.
One of the biggest concerns is that federal agencies will access the cameras, as was discovered to have happened twice in El Cerrito.
The department’s chief, Paul Keith, said at the time that Flock had been responsive and put new safeguards in place.
"The modern version of Flock really does take that out of the department’s hand. The first thing that pops up now when you log into Flock is this is only for California agencies ,this whole disclaimer before you can even access the system now," Keith said.
Company statements
What they're saying:
Flock, in response to the lawsuit, released a lawsuit that stated in part that the company "takes privacy, legal compliance, and data security extremely seriously."
A Flock spokesperson in February said the company had disabled its national lookup feature for all California agencies and is confident its privacy protections comply with state law, local policy and community expectations.
That spokesperson was responding to privacy advocates in Alameda County and across the Bay Area criticizing the company and speaking out against local governments installing Flock cameras in their communities.
KTVU has reached out to Flock for comment and is awaiting a response.
The Source: San Francisco Police Department, previous KTVU reporting