Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante on Tuesday, Nov. 18 delivering a report to Santa Cruz City Council on how his department inadvertently— and illegally— shared license plate camera data with out-of-state law enforcement agencies. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

SANTA CRUZ >> Santa Cruz Police inadvertently— and illegally— shared license plate camera data with out-of-state law enforcement agencies, Chief Bernie Escalante announced during a Tuesday Santa Cruz City Council meeting. Now, city leaders say they are tightening restrictions for sharing the data and re-evaluating the city’s contract with Flock Security, which stores the data.

This follows months of scrutiny of the cameras from activists, academics and some local leaders, and a Nov. 7 article from Santa Cruz Local about similar inadvertent violations from Capitola Police. It was discovered that throughout 2024 and early 2025, federal and out-of-state law enforcement agencies searched Capitola Police Department’s database of automatic license plate readers more than three million times. At least 190 were done by sheriffs offices and police departments running searches on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Sharing license plate camera data across state lines is against California law, in part to help ensure that law enforcement agencies in other states don’t search the data on behalf of ICE or other federal agencies conducting immigration enforcement.

In light of Santa Cruz Police illegally sharing license plate camera data with out-of-state law enforcement agencies, Santa Cruz City Council is pledging tighter restrictions on data sharing. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

The illegal sharing was “not the result of any deliberate attempt by city staff to circumvent the California law,” Escalante said. 

“Santa Cruz Police Department does not assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in enforcing civil immigration law violations,” he added.

The out-of-state sharing stopped on Feb. 11, Escalante said. That’s when Flock disabled out-of-state sharing in areas where it is illegal, including California, representatives with Flock have stated.

Some anti-Flock organizers have said that even if the department shares only with other law enforcement agencies in California, those agencies may still illegally share the data with out-of-state or federal agencies. To address that concern, Santa Cruz Police is temporarily pulling out of a “statewide sharing portal” and will instead share data only on a case-by-case basis, Escalante said.

Julia Monahan, of Get The Flock Out, is one of dozens who attended the Santa Cruz City Council meeting on Nov. 18 to rally against police using Flock Safety systems to track license plate data. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

Escalante said in an Oct. 29 interview that reviewing sharing requests circumstantially would be overly burdensome, as other agencies search Santa Cruz Police’s data hundreds or thousands of times a day.

Vice Mayor Susie O’Hara on Tuesday said Santa Cruz Police will also:

• Require any “agency requesting our data to affirm in writing that they will follow our standards limitations and legal protection.”
• Conduct a quarterly transparency report on Santa Cruz Police’s searches of license plate camera data.
• Review a possible contract amendment with Flock to further ensure data cannot be used for immigration enforcement. The amendment is set to come to the city council for a vote Dec. 9.

Dozens of people gathered outside City Hall before Tuesday’s council meeting, rallying against the use of Flock cameras. After Escalante’s announcement, many said they remain concerned about the misuse of license plate camera data, even with the increased protections.

“It’s not that I don’t trust the police department,” said Get the Flock Out activist Ami Chen-Mills, who has also been tracking and writing about violations involving Flock and Capitola Police. “I don’t trust this company, which is in the business of data brokerage and making money. They’re not in the business of protecting our constitutional rights.”

The city has yet to fulfill a public records request from a Get The Flock Out researcher, D., filed Nov. 3 for searches made against Santa Cruz Police’s license plate data. D. asked to be identified only by his first initial because of fear of retaliation from Flock or local police. 

Without those datasets, it is unclear whether out-of-state law enforcement agencies could have performed searches of Santa Cruz Police’s data on behalf of ICE or other federal agencies conducting immigration enforcement.

Santa Cruz Local will continue to follow this story.

Questions or comments? Email [email protected]. Santa Cruz Local is supported by members, major donors, sponsors and grants for the general support of our newsroom. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Learn more about Santa Cruz Local and how we are funded.