Flock Surveillance Collection FAQ

Flock Safety is the vendor named in the released Amador County records. An automated license plate reader, or ALPR, captures images associated with passing vehicles and uses software to read license plates for later searching and alerts.

The archive currently includes public-records requests, agency responses, the Flock contract, Policy 473, Board material, training and access emails, data-sharing records, camera-location disclosures, usage exports, hotlist data, and an administrative event log.

The Sheriff’s Office response identifies eight camera units across five general location groups. The Camera Map page lists the disclosed locations and links back to the source response.

The published records do not provide one consistent answer. The agency response and contract describe a 30-day default, while Policy 473 contains language saying ALPR data downloaded to the server should be retained for at least one year. The archive treats that difference as unresolved.

The agency response describes access by California law-enforcement agencies using Flock for Search and Alert functions and says data is not shared with certain federal, out-of-state, immigration-enforcement, or private recipients. Separate records also show network-sharing activity involving outside organizations. The exact current access list remains an open records question.

Policy 473 says reasonable suspicion or probable cause is not required before using an ALPR. The same policy limits access to official law-enforcement purposes and requires approved training.

No. An alert is a system match, not proof of criminal conduct. The released policy says deputies should verify an ALPR response through CLETS when practicable before taking enforcement action based solely on an alert.

The released CSV is an administrative event log. It records actions involving accounts, roles, hotlists, and network sharing. It is not a complete plate-search history. The Flock Event Log Explained page separates named administrative activity from outside organizations appearing in sharing events.

The event-log report is designed to accept later monthly releases. New source logs can be preserved as separate dated files while the explanatory tables and cumulative summaries are updated.

Each report includes open questions and source links. The largest current issues include retention, historic approval and procurement records, the current network-sharing configuration, and whether a complete plate-search audit log will be released.