Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), including cameras operated by Flock Safety and Motorola Solutions, create records of vehicles traveling throughout our city. When deployed across a city, these cameras create a powerful surveillance network capable of tracking the movements of thousands of people who have done nothing wrong.

When the Santa Ana City Council approved these contracts in May 2025, Councilmembers promised the community accountability. As part of the approval, the Council directed staff to bring the program back after one year for a public update on its efficacy and use.

More than a year later, that promised public review has not happened.

The Council made a commitment to Santa Ana residents and failed to keep it. That is especially troubling because new information has emerged that raises even greater concerns about how this technology can be accessed and abused.

Journalist Ben Camacho reported that records obtained from the City show the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center — a fusion center — conducted searches of Santa Ana's Flock system on behalf of multiple federal and out-of-state agencies. California law prohibits sharing ALPR information with federal and out-of-state agencies. If the City cannot guarantee that information collected from Santa Ana residents will stay out of the hands of agencies that should not have access to it, these cameras should not be operating in our community.

We also do not have to look far to understand the potential for abuse.

In neighboring Costa Mesa, a former police officer pleaded guilty after illegally accessing law enforcement databases. Prosecutors said he used Costa Mesa's Flock license plate reader system to locate and track a woman with whom he had been romantically involved, her romantic partners, and vehicles associated with them. The case demonstrates that the danger of ALPR abuse is not hypothetical, it has already happened here in Orange County.

These concerns are particularly serious in Santa Ana, a predominantly Latino and immigrant community where families are already living with fear of increased immigration enforcement and government surveillance.

The City promised accountability. It failed to deliver.

Public safety should not require mass surveillance.

It is time for Santa Ana to end its contracts with Flock Safety and Motorola Solutions and put the privacy, civil liberties, and trust of our community first.