Demand that Pasadena end Flock Now!

Cities across California are canceling contracts with Flock, which use AI-powered surveillance cameras to capture the movements of every driver, over mounting privacy and civil liberty concerns. Pasadena officials are preparing to discuss whether the city should continue operating one of the region’s largest automated license plate reader networks.

Flock ALPR cameras are being used for indiscriminate surveillance, tracking and targeting countless individuals. While Flock, law enforcement and city government tout the benefits of automated license plate readers for public safety, in reality it endangers everyone - in particular immigrants and their families, people of color, people seeking sensitive healthcare, and the many exercising civil liberties like free speech.

Reporting by NBC shows Pasadena Flock Camera data accessed by numerous law enforcement agencies across California and out-of-state including the FBI, ICE and NCRIC. In one instance, Pasadena’s database was searched for “ICE Protest" in San Bernardino...the same day a rally was held outside a San Bernardino facility.

PPD has since quietly stopped sharing with NCRIC - a fusion center in California that collects and shares “information between the federal government and state, local, tribal, and private sector partners” - after NBC reached out to Pasadena to ask why it was sharing Flock data with NCRIC.

This is a repeated pattern of lack of oversight or adequate guardrails with PPD's ALPR. In years prior, Pasadena was notified that it was sharing ALPR information across the country, the city lacked ALPR data retention restrictions, and many residents have repeatedly expressed privacy concerns.

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, PPD continues to claim their internal audits found Flock ALPR "complies with state law and department policy". If not stopped, PPD will continue to blanket the entire city with surveillance cameras on every intersection, every park and every sensitive location and tracking everywhere we go.

Pasadena has not been transparent about the purchase of Flock cameras. In May 2025, Pasadena approved an "Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG)" - failing to disclosed on the agenda title that the money was to purchase additional Flock cameras.

Pasadena Police says Flock is a "useful tool" - yes, indeed, there's dozens of recent cases documented nationwide where police used Flock and other ALPR tools to illegally track ex-partners, current romantic interests, and coworkers.

Flock's indiscriminate surveillance is in conflict with constitutional protections and numerous civil liberties groups such as the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation arguing that the technology infringes on Americans’ right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment. Despite repeated attempts from Flock to reform their system, it is apparent ALPR is problematic, insecure and can have devastating consequences for innocent individuals. Academics, researchers and experts overwhelmingly agree that there's a lack of evidence linking Flock to crime reduction rates. An audit reveals that Flock ALPR produce many false hits, leading to unnecessary and potentially dangerous stops from armed officers.

Pasadena should join dozens of cities across the country who have ended their contracts with Flock, removed cameras and rejected any ALPR replacements such as Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Santa Cruz, and others.

The question before Pasadena is no longer whether this technology works. It is whether mass surveillance of ordinary residents is a price that we are willing to accept at the detriment of our civil liberties. And, no, it is not.

DeFlock Pasadena demands that the City of Pasadena cancel the contract with Flock and commit to using the money instead to fund community-based safety initiatives that don't infringe on our civil liberties.

Demand that Pasadena City Council:

1. Disable and remove all Flock cameras in Pasadena.

2. Commit to cancelling the Flock contract in September.

3. Do not replace Flock with another ALPR vendor.

4. Commit to funding community-based safety initiatives.

The next Flock discussion is scheduled for the August 19th Public Safety Committee meeting at 5pm.

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