DEFLOCK BAY AREA
DeFlock San Francisco
Automated license plate readers can create searchable records of where ordinary people drive. This site exists to help residents examine how that technology is proposed, purchased, governed, shared and used.
San Francisco's ALPR network
In March 2024, the San Francisco Police Department announced that a California organized-retail-theft grant was funding a partnership with Flock Safety to install a network of hundreds of automated license plate reader cameras throughout the City and County of San Francisco. Installation began on March 19, 2024.
The cameras do more than read plates. SFPD's rollout notice says the system can also be searched using vehicle characteristics such as body type, make and color.
San Francisco at a Glance
These figures are tied to dated official records. Where a current number or future projection has not been verified, we say so rather than guess.
| Measure | Current / latest verified record | Future projection in the record | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flock / ALPR cameras |
SFPD's 2024 annual report said the Department had
approximately 300 ALPR cameras, excluding mobile units,
at that reporting point.
Put another way: San Francisco has approximately
930 miles of streets. At the approximately 300-camera count reported
by SFPD, that's roughly one ALPR for every 3.1 miles
(5,456 yards) of San Francisco streets.
San Francisco FY25 street report →
|
The same report said total deployment was expected to reach 400 cameras. DeFlock San Francisco is still verifying the exact current active-camera count. | 2024 ALPR annual report |
| Systems / vendors | The 2024 report identifies Flock ALPR, Motorola/Vigilant ALPR and Thomson Reuters CLEAR ALPR. | Current platform inventory and any material changes since that report are still being verified. | 2024 ALPR annual report |
| Budget / reported cost | For FY 2024–25, SFPD reported $350,000 in one-time installation costs and $1.2 million in annual recurring software costs. | A separate non-binding procurement quote described a 400-camera proposal with a $1.535 million first-year subtotal and $3.935 million quoted contract total. Those quoted figures are not presented as final payments. |
2024 ALPR annual report Procurement packet |
| Funding | SFPD's 2024 annual report says its reported FY 2024–25 ALPR costs were funded entirely through the State of California retail-theft grant. | Future funding sources and appropriations are still being researched. | 2024 ALPR annual report |
| Retention / searchable travel history | The approved SFPD policy says NCRIC advises ordinary ALPR retention of 12 months from capture. Some investigative, criminal-intelligence and evidentiary records may be retained longer. | No shorter current San Francisco ordinary retention period has been verified in the approved policy cited here. | Approved SFPD ALPR policy |
The contract price is not the Total Cost of Ownership.
Published contract, procurement and annual-report figures identify only costs contained in those records. They should not automatically be treated as the complete taxpayer cost of operating San Francisco's ALPR program.
Operating an ALPR program can also consume personnel time, police and IT management, networking, communications, storage, cybersecurity, facilities, maintenance, training, records management, legal and compliance resources and other shared government infrastructure.
Many of those resources may already exist and would continue to exist without ALPR. Existing does not mean free. A complete Total Cost of Ownership analysis should distinguish additional costs created specifically by the program from the program's appropriate share of existing resources.
DeFlock San Francisco will distinguish documented expenditures from estimated or allocated costs as that research develops.
What the 400-camera figure actually means
San Francisco procurement material included a Flock Safety budgetary quote for 400 Falcon cameras. The quote listed $1.2 million in annual recurring platform costs, $335,000 in implementation fees, a $1.535 million first-year subtotal and a $3.935 million quoted contract total.
That document explicitly says it is a non-binding proposal for informational purposes. We therefore treat it as procurement evidence — not as proof that every quoted camera was installed or that every quoted dollar was ultimately paid.
Where are ALPR cameras in and around San Francisco?
This community-maintained DeFlock map shows reported automated license-plate-reader locations around San Francisco. Camera locations can change, and a community map may not identify every camera.
Catch the bad guys. Don't track anybody else.
SFPD describes ALPR as an investigative tool for identifying and locating suspect vehicles. We do not dispute that license plate readers can produce useful investigative leads.
Our objection is to building a searchable record of the movements of ordinary people who are not suspected of a crime.
The photograph isn't the issue. The searchable history is.
One ALPR camera is one ALPR camera too many.
What SFPD's current rules say
SFPD Department Notice 26-011, published January 20, 2026, says department members have access to multiple ALPR platforms and databases. Searches must be for law-enforcement purposes and must include an incident number, CAD number or documented reason for the search.
The same directive says SFPD's ALPR platforms are disabled from sharing information with federal or out-of-state agencies. It also prohibits queries at their request and prohibits ALPR inquiries for immigration enforcement or for purposes associated with reproductive rights.
Those are meaningful safeguards. They also demonstrate why configuration, auditing, access controls and data-sharing arrangements matter just as much as written policy.
San Francisco has a surveillance oversight process
San Francisco Administrative Code Chapter 19B establishes a process for reviewing and reporting on City surveillance technologies. SFPD publishes surveillance technology policies and annual reports under that framework, including ALPR annual reports.
This gives San Franciscans something residents of many jurisdictions do not have: a substantial public paper trail that can be compared with how the technology is actually configured and used.
Follow the evidence
DeFlock San Francisco is building an evidence library around SFPD policies, annual surveillance reports, contracts, procurement records, data-sharing records and other primary sources.
Where figures refer to a proposed deployment, historical deployment or specific reporting period, we will say so. We will not turn an old camera count into a claimed current count simply because it is the newest number we can find.
San Francisco is both city and county
San Francisco is a consolidated city and county. DeFlock San Francisco therefore serves as the local San Francisco layer of DeFlock Bay Area without creating a redundant city page underneath a county page.
Take part
Ask questions. Request records. Contact the people responsible for policy and oversight. Attend public meetings. Share credible information with your neighbors.
Use your First Amendment rights loudly, proudly, peacefully and legally. Do not vandalize cameras or other equipment.
Watch & support @LoyalMoses
@LoyalMoses is fighting the good fight well beyond DeFlock. His work has repeatedly examined Flock, mass surveillance, public access to camera data and technology-policy issues affecting privacy, civil liberties and individual independence.
If you care about civil liberties—not just ALPR cameras—his work is worth following.
Watch the featured video on YouTube →
Join DeFlock Bay Area
Connect with Bay Area residents, share information, organize and stay informed.
One ALPR camera is one ALPR camera too many.
That is our campaign position. We oppose routine, suspicionless collection of vehicle-location data and want San Francisco to move away from mass ALPR surveillance.
The question isn't whether an ALPR can help solve a crime. The question is whether solving some crimes requires creating searchable records of everybody else.