As Bay Area Cities Break Up With Flock, Pushback to Surveillance Mounts in SF – KQED

As Bay Area Cities Break Up With Flock, Pushback to Surveillance Mounts in SF  KQED

Tensions around police surveillance technology are boiling over as Flock’s contract with San Francisco faces renewal in February 2027. As Bay Area cities set stricter guardrails or break up entirely with automated license plate reader tools like Flock in the face of intense criticism from constituents, many elected officials in San Francisco are doubling down on their support for the surveillance technology. From Mayor Daniel Lurie to supervisors like Matt Dorsey and other local Democratic Party leaders, they say the cameras have aided law enforcement and reduced crime. Critics say they are a gross invasion of privacy. Tensions over the city’s use of Flock have fueled protests and fiery public comment as San Francisco prepares to reconsider its contract with the controversial Atlanta-based company next February and as the election next month spurs widespread debate about artificial intelligence and surveillance technology.

“I don’t feel safe being watched. There’s definitely nothing related to surveillance that is going to help me feel safer,” said Zachary Schwartz, a 16-year-old junior at Lowell High School, who started the local DeFlock SF chapter to organize against what he said is increasing mass surveillance in the city where he’s growing up. San Francisco announced in 2024 that it would begin rolling out a network of about 400 cameras mounted on streetlights around the city. Today, San