San Francisco Car Crime Plunges as Flock Surveillance Debate Intensifies

NPR reported that San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins described the city four years ago as a public safety disaster and said new crime-fighting technology was one of the most important factors behind the drop. In March 2024, San Francisco voters approved Proposition E, which made it easier for the police department to use drones and high-tech surveillance cameras. That same month, the SFPD began installing Flock cameras at strategic locations.

The Flock system consists of automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, that photograph passing vehicles. The company's AI software scans license plates and identifies details including make, color, body style, roof racks and bumper stickers. It places the images in a searchable database that lets investigators determine when and where a vehicle was seen, even if it has no visible plates.

A San Francisco Police Department spokesperson told NPR that ALPR has been instrumental in driving down crime in San Francisco, enabling officers to identify crime vehicles with precision and helping reduce offenses such as auto burglaries that were previously difficult to solve. Jenkins also described how Flock cameras and drones can work together. In one publicized case, the department said Flock cameras spotted a moving vehicle linked to an auto burglary the previous day and alerted officers. Officers deployed a drone that recorded suspects in real time as they smashed windows and stole luggage from a parked SUV, after which police moved in and arrested them. Jenkins said such operations can be conducted without putting innocent people in danger through dangerous police chases, and the surveillance system creates an evidence trail for prosecution.

But Flock has become increasingly controversial. NPR reported that reports of officers abusing the system have made headlines, and hundreds of cities and counties have ended or suspended contracts with the company or decided not to renew them. Some cities, including Los Angeles and Denver, announced they were dropping Flock but continued scanning license plates with a competing surveillance system made by Axon. San Francisco leaders, by contrast, remain committed to Flock. Rather than eliminating the system, they are seeking to tighten rules around its use and make misuse of its data a crime. Their approach could become a test case for other cities trying to use high-tech surveillance to fight crime while limiting abuse.

The debate also raises the question of whether cities can deploy such a broad license plate dragnet without trampling on constitutional rights. NPR reported that San Francisco's experience will be watched as a test of that balance.