The Oakland Police Department is looking to push through a $2.25M contract to expand its surveillance network under the privately-owned company FLOCK Safety — and we need you to show up and demand they reject any use policy or contract with FLOCK in Oakland.

The proposed contract would consolidate OPD’s public camera surveillance network with private camera feeds — including doorbell cameras and Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) data — into one massive, privately-owned database system operated by Flock. If approved, OPD will collect and store Oakland data into a warrantless searchable database of millions of law-abiding Bay Area residents that is accessible to over 5,000 agencies nationwide—including ICE and the Trump administration.

Last month, Oaklanders scored a big win when the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission voted 4-2 to recommend rejecting OPD's proposed use policy and contract with Flock Safety. But the fight is not over: Oakland City Council is now pushing through this $2.25M FLOCK contract as quickly as possible, starting at the Public Safety Committee meeting on Tuesday, November 18th at 6pm.

This is more than a privacy issue — it’s about safety, sanctuary, and power. Once collected, this data can be accessed by ICE and Federal agencies to target undocumented Oaklanders and criminalize Black, Brown, and poor communities. Even with California's SB 34 law prohibiting ALPR sharing with federal agencies, Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump Administration have made clear their willingness to use force to get this information. Local policies can't stop federal subpoenas, and state laws can't block federal court orders.

We know how this story goes: once the infrastructure is built, they will come for it. The only way to protect our people is not to collect the data in the first place. As a sanctuary city, Oakland has a responsibility to stop building surveillance tools that federal agencies will inevitably use against us. That’s why we need to be clear with Oakland City Council: