(ELK GROVE, CA) — The Elk Grove City Council has moved to expand the city’s network of automated license plate readers (ALPR), approving a controversial contract amendment despite growing vocal opposition from residents over mass surveillance and the city's "no-bid" procurement process.
OpGov.news reports during the April 8 regular meeting the council authorized a $194,100 contract increase with Flock Group, Inc. despite a sharp divide between law enforcement’s success metrics and residents' privacy concerns. The vote brings the city’s total investment in the surveillance platform to about $1.6 million through April 2028.
(Elk Grove Police 2025 Annual Report.)
The decision follows a 2025 Annual Report from the Elk Grove Police Department (EGPD) that frames the technology as an essential force multiplier. According to Police Chief Bobby Davis, the department responded to nearly 100,000 calls for service in 2025 (10 percent increase from previous year) with staff facing an eight percent vacancy rate. Davis noted that while overall crime in Elk Grove dipped by two percent, violent crime saw troubling spikes, including a 75 percent increase in homicides (rising from four to seven) and a rise in aggravated assaults.
The police department justifies the $1.6 million price tag by pointing to the system's "extreme value" in closing cases. Real-Time Information Center Manager Andrea Cortez reported that the system has assisted in 1,548 investigative alerts since its inception, with 866 of those leads resulting in arrests—a hit rate of over 50 percent. In 2025 alone, the technology was credited with aiding in the recovery of 536 stolen vehicles and 93 missing person cases.
However, these metrics did little to ease the fears of residents who spoke out during public hearing. Local resident Lindsey Halsell challenged the ethics of the expansion, stating, "Although California law prohibits sharing license plate reader data with out-of-state entities, many cities have shared information with federal agents. Whether or not Elk Grove intends to share data is irrelevant; our information becomes part of a national database proven to be highly insecure.
“Flock has been used to wrongfully accuse people and has even left live streams exposed to the open internet,” Halsell said. “While the company claims these cameras decrease crime, independent analysis found that crime stayed flat or increased. It is reckless to increase surveillance during this era."
Addressing the City Council, resident Rico G. voiced his disappointment regarding the proposed expansion of the surveillance contract, stating: "I am disappointed to see that the city is moving ahead with the expansion of the Flock contract despite the concerns of illegal actions raised by multiple residents. It has been evident in other states as well that there is a lack of privacy within the Flock Safety ecosystem. A resident in Georgia reported finding at least 60 vulnerabilities that allowed him to access GPS tracking and live camera feeds without restricted access. If a normal person on the street can do it, who's to say a law enforcement officer with a vendetta would not do the same?
“Multiple California cities have discovered Flock was sharing their data with federal agencies, including ICE, in violation of state law and without their knowledge or consent,” Rico G. stated. “I am asking you today to pull this item and wait until the California Department of Justice has completed an independent audit of the data to verify no federal agency access has occurred. Please suspend the Flock Safety ALPR contract pending that investigation and research other vendors."
To counter these privacy concerns, Chief Davis detailed specific safeguards currently in place. Davis affirmed that Elk Grove’s system is configured to automatically purge all data after 30 days unless it is flagged as evidence in a specific criminal case. Furthermore, Davis emphasized that the department’s policy "explicitly prohibits the use of camera data for immigration enforcement," and that the "out-of-state sharing" features criticized in other cities have been disabled in Elk Grove's portal.
"For us, it’s a tool,” Chief Davis stated. “This is not a means for us to do any surveillance. It’s not a means for us to violate people’s rights, nor have we."
The sixth amendment to the contract will specifically fund the replacement of standard cameras with long-distance units and the strategic relocation of hardware to ensure full city-wide coverage. City staff argued that bypassing a formal bidding process for this expansion was necessary to maintain operational continuity within the Real-Time Information Center, which is already fully integrated with Flock’s proprietary software.
As the city moves forward, the Council has pledged to maintain its annual reporting structure to ensure the "Star of Service" the technology provides does not eclipse the civil liberties of the community it monitors.
The City of Elk Grove maintains transparency about its camera systems through the official City of Elk Grove website.
Story image: Flock Safety camera with solar panel. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Submit Elk Grove story tips and ideas to Sarah Denos at sarahkdenos@gmail.com.
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