Data privacy concerns have made their way to Sunnyvale.
At its most recent meeting, April 21, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety (DPS) presented the Sunnyvale City Council safeguards aimed at addressing concerns surrounding the city’s automatic license plate reader (ALPR) contract.
The contract with Flock Safety has raised ire from public members who claim the company is not trustworthy.
“Flock Safety … has a very bad record of using deceptive and intrusive practices to create a nation-wide mass surveillance network that, frankly, is not consistent with living in a free, democratic society,” said Maria H. “I don’t want to live in that constantly surveilled state, and while I can appreciate that we all want to feel safe, part of feeling safe is feeling free.”
Sunnyvale DPS Chief Daniel Pistor and Kathleen Boutte Foster, the city’s chief information officer, presented the safeguards for the city’s 20 ALPRs to the council.
Those safeguards include 30-day data retention, limited authorized users, investigative justification requirements, audit logs and limiting data sharing to approved law enforcement.
“We can’t just go in there searching for the fun of searching,” Pistor said. “We need to have a reason, and it needs to be documented and logged.”
The tension between privacy and safety left the council in a difficult position. While many public commenters supported the use of the ALPRs, others pointed to security vulnerabilities in Flock’s system.
Several council members agreed that Flock is not trustworthy. However, they all emphasized that they do trust city employees.
The situation was complicated by DPS Chief Pistor telling the council that the value of using the system is that neighboring jurisdictions use it. Essentially, since Flock is the go-to ALPR provider, the city has no other viable option.
Vice Mayor Richard Mehlinger said he doesn’t doubt the power of ALPRs to assist in solving crimes, adding that the power they have to catch violent criminals and locate missing persons is “incontrovertible.”
Mehlinger proposed several additions to the policy. He proposed that the city avoid adding new ALPRs, that it roll the IT audit into the city’s military equipment, that the council have access to monthly internal use audits, if there is any suspicion that federal agencies are accessing the system data, city employees disable the system and return to the council immediately, for the city to work with county on ALPR initiative and for IT actively monitor for vulnerabilities in the system.
Mehlinger said he was “not entirely happy” but that it was the “most reasonable compromise” given the information the council has.
The council unanimously approved the report. The ALPR contract expires in June 2027.
Sunnyvale Consent Calendar Spending
The council approved the following spending in one motion via the consent calendar:
- An increase to a contract with Carollo Engineers, Inc. for engineering for the Sunnyvale Cleanwater Program. That contract is now $15.83 million. The item also included a contract with Ranger Pipelines for water pollution control, totaling $6.52 million in increases because of delays.
The council meets again at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 5, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave. in Sunnyvale.
To submit public comments ahead of the meeting, visit http://Sunnyvale.ca.gov/PublicComments; Meeting online link: https://sunnyvale-ca-gov.zoom.us/j/96111580540; meeting call-in telephone number: 833-548-0276, meeting ID: 961 1158 0540
Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com
Previous Sunnyvale City Council Meetings:
Sunnyvale Establishes ICE-free Zones
State Law Forces Sunnyvale’s Hand to Approve Housing Development
Sunnyvale Behind on Housing Allocations
Sunnyvale Approves its Own Shuttle Program
