Our streets. Our rights.
Get the Flock Out of Bay Area
Automated license plate readers can do more than photograph a vehicle on a public street. When observations are stored and made searchable, they can become a history of where a vehicle has been.
Track the bad guys. Leave the rest of us out of it.
SEE THE VICTORIES →LOCAL CAMPAIGNS →What we object to
We have no objection to legitimate, lawful police work directed at people suspected of crimes. Our objection is routine collection of location information about everybody else simply because technology makes it easy.
Being visible in public is not the same thing as consenting to a searchable history of your movements.
The surveillance scoreboard
Success stories report what the system found. The denominator shows how much routine travel was recorded to find it.
This roll-up adds up only the same measure of the same kind, taken from the records listed in the table under each total. It is a partial total and updates at every build.
Cameras currently online
At least 1,761 cameras online, as each place documents it (each on its own date; a place that has switched its cameras off counts as 0)
Partial total: 13 of 101 cities researched so far; the rest are still being researched.
| City | Figure | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Palo Alto | 25 (the portal's count of LPR and other cameras) | 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Hillsborough | 22 (the portal's count of LPR and other cameras) | 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Livermore | 75 | 17 October 2026 | Livermore PD Flock transparency portal, as updated 17 October 2026 (75 Flock ALPR cameras) ↗ |
| Menlo Park | 35 (the portal's count of LPR and other cameras) | 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Morgan Hill | 68 (the portal's count of LPR and other cameras) | 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Mountain View | 0 (all 30 cameras off since 2 Feb 2026; contract terminated 24 Feb 2026) | 25 February 2026 | City news release, 25 Feb 2026 ↗ |
| Oakland | 290 (funded and deployed, per OPD's 2025 report) | 17 April 2026 | OPD 2025 ALPR report ↗ |
| Palo Alto | 30 (the portal's count of LPR and other cameras) | 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Piedmont | 57 (the portal's count of LPR and other cameras) | 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| San Francisco | 483 (the portal's count of LPR and other cameras) | 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| San Jose | 514 (the portal's count of LPR and other cameras) | 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| San Mateo | 65 (the portal's count of LPR and other cameras) | 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Vallejo | 97 | 29 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 29 Oct 2026 ↗ |
Contract ceilings
At least $4,231,468 in contract ceilings. A ceiling is the most a contract allows, not money spent; terms differ, and some places have replaced contracts
Partial total: 4 of 101 cities researched so far; the rest are still being researched.
| City | Figure | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Livermore | $815,000 | 9 June 2025 | Livermore City Council minutes, 9 June 2025 (Resolution 2025-088) ↗ |
| Oakland | $2,252,500 (two-year ceiling) | 16 December 2025 | Resolution 91008 C.M.S. ↗ |
| Palo Alto | $524,208 | 2 December 2024 | Council report, 2 Dec 2024 ↗ |
| Pleasanton | $639,760 | 15 July 2025 | Pleasanton City Council minutes, 15 July 2025 (Item 15) ↗ |
Plate captures (vehicles detected), searches and hits in 30 days
At least 1,201,553 vehicles detected in the same 30-day window to 17 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 1 city
At least 238 searches in the same 30-day window to 17 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 1 city
At least 10,897 hotlist hits in the same 30-day window to 17 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 1 city
At least 762,704 vehicles detected in the same 30-day window to 19 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 1 city
At least 229 searches in the same 30-day window to 19 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 1 city
At least 3,213 hotlist hits in the same 30-day window to 19 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 1 city
At least 531,332 vehicles detected in the same 30-day window to 29 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 1 city
At least 610 searches in the same 30-day window to 29 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 1 city
At least 24,543 hotlist hits in the same 30-day window to 29 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 1 city
At least 6,547,274 vehicles detected in the same 30-day window to 30 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 8 cities
At least 5,171 searches in the same 30-day window to 30 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 7 cities
At least 208,496 hotlist hits in the same 30-day window to 30 October 2026 (Flock transparency portal), 8 cities
A figure a place does not publish is left out of that sum, never guessed.
Partial total: 11 of 101 cities researched so far; the rest are still being researched.
| City | Figures | Window | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Livermore | 1,201,553 vehicles detected · 238 searches · 10,897 hotlist hits | 30 days to 17 October 2026 | Livermore PD Flock transparency portal, as updated 17 October 2026 ↗ |
| Pleasanton | 762,704 vehicles detected · 229 searches · 3,213 hotlist hits | 30 days to 19 October 2026 | Pleasanton PD Flock transparency portal, as updated 19 October 2026 ↗ |
| Vallejo | 531,332 vehicles detected · 610 searches · 24,543 hotlist hits | 30 days to 29 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 29 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| East Palo Alto | 373,768 vehicles detected · 154 searches · 4,203 hotlist hits | 30 days to 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Hillsborough | 144,544 vehicles detected · 77 searches · 381 hotlist hits | 30 days to 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Menlo Park | 857,318 vehicles detected · 168 searches · 2,417 hotlist hits | 30 days to 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Morgan Hill | 454,392 vehicles detected · 404 searches · 6,530 hotlist hits | 30 days to 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Palo Alto | 686,080 vehicles detected · 391 searches · 1,938 hotlist hits | 30 days to 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Piedmont | 185,221 vehicles detected · 113 searches · 1,602 hotlist hits | 30 days to 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| San Jose | 3,003,750 vehicles detected · 3,864 searches · 187,426 hotlist hits | 30 days to 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| San Mateo | 842,201 vehicles detected · 3,999 hotlist hits | 30 days to 30 October 2026 | Flock portal, saved 30 Oct 2026 ↗ |
Bay Area at a Glance
Documented stated in the record (click to open it) · Calculated our arithmetic from documented figures (hover or tap to see it) · Unknown not established by the records we have
| Measure | Current / latest verified record | Future projection in the record |
|---|---|---|
| Cameras currently online | Calculated At least 1,761 cameras online, as each city documents it Partial total: 13 of 101 cities researched so far; the rest are still being researched. City, figure, date and source are in the scoreboard above. | — |
| Contract ceilings (not spending) | Calculated At least $4,231,468 in contract ceilings Partial total: 4 of 101 cities researched so far; the rest are still being researched. City, figure, date and source are in the scoreboard above. | — |
| Vehicles detected, searches and hits, 30 days to 17 October 2026 | Calculated At least 1,201,553 vehicles detected Calculated At least 238 searches Calculated At least 10,897 hotlist hits Same window and same system (Flock transparency portal) only; 1 of 101 cities. | — |
| Vehicles detected, searches and hits, 30 days to 19 October 2026 | Calculated At least 762,704 vehicles detected Calculated At least 229 searches Calculated At least 3,213 hotlist hits Same window and same system (Flock transparency portal) only; 1 of 101 cities. | — |
| Vehicles detected, searches and hits, 30 days to 29 October 2026 | Calculated At least 531,332 vehicles detected Calculated At least 610 searches Calculated At least 24,543 hotlist hits Same window and same system (Flock transparency portal) only; 1 of 101 cities. | — |
| Vehicles detected, searches and hits, 30 days to 30 October 2026 | Calculated At least 6,547,274 vehicles detected Calculated At least 5,171 searches Calculated At least 208,496 hotlist hits Same window and same system (Flock transparency portal) only; 8 of 101 cities. | — |
| Cities with a documented ALPR retention period | Calculated 23 of 101 cities have a Documented retention period on their ALPR page. Cities: Alameda, Albany, Atherton, Berkeley, Campbell, Cupertino, Emeryville, Foster City, Fremont, Hayward, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Oakland, Palo Alto, Petaluma, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Francisco, San Jose, San Leandro, Santa Rosa, Sunnyvale, Vallejo. | — |
DeFlock Bay Area is growing
DeFlock Bay Area is being built as a regional resource for understanding the expansion of automated surveillance technology throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Our goal is to build this site out county by county and city by city, documenting what technologies are being deployed, where they are being deployed, how much public money is being allocated to them, and the policies governing how the resulting data is retained, searched and shared.
That includes automated license plate readers such as Flock Safety, as well as emerging surveillance technologies such as SignalTrace and other networked public-safety technology platforms that raise serious privacy, civil-liberties and Fourth Amendment questions.
As the site grows, we intend to provide sourced information about deployments, camera counts where available, contracts, budgets and funding allocations, retention policies, data-sharing practices, public records, and decisions being made by local governments throughout the Bay Area.
We're just getting started. Bookmark DeFlockBayArea.org and keep checking back as we build this into a Bay Area-wide surveillance accountability resource.
We don't want to become China 2.0.
Technology is making it increasingly easy to record where people go, associate movements with vehicles and personal devices, retain the information, and make it searchable.
Each system may be presented as one more useful public-safety tool. Taken together, however, increasingly interconnected surveillance technologies can create capabilities that would have been unimaginable only a generation ago.
We believe the time to establish limits is before that infrastructure becomes ubiquitous—not afterward.
This is not an argument against technology or legitimate police work. Track people legitimately suspected of serious crimes using lawful investigative methods. Don't build the infrastructure to track everybody else.
Local campaigns
Regional accountability starts locally. These Bay Area community sites document local deployments, records and decision-makers.
DeFlock Livermore
Local information and civic action concerning ALPR surveillance in Livermore.
VISIT LIVERMORE →DeFlock Pleasanton
Local information and civic action concerning ALPR surveillance in Pleasanton.
VISIT PLEASANTON →Watch: how the surveillance network works
Watch directly on YouTube: “Flock Cameras Legally Spy On You. It's The Law.”
Watch & support Moses
Moses is putting real time and effort—and a lot of himself—on the line to keep people informed about surveillance systems and to fight the good fight for privacy and civil liberties.
Please support his YouTube channel by liking his videos and subscribing.
VISIT @LOYALMOSES ON YOUTUBE →The photograph isn’t the problem. The ability to track my movements in my private life when I am suspected of no crimes IS the problem.
Taking a photograph on a public street is one thing. Systematically retaining observations and making them searchable later is another. That's the distinction at the heart of this campaign.
SEE WHAT COMMUNITIES ARE DOING →Need to contact DeFlock Bay Area?
CONTACT US →Join DeFlock Bay Area and DeFlock California on Facebook
Connect with local residents, share information, organize and stay informed.