US EditionMountain View Ends Its Automated License Plate Reader Contract with Flock Safety
Mountain View ended its contract with Flock Safety after unauthorized federal and state access to license plate data raised legal and privacy concerns, officials said.
- On February 24, 2026, the Mountain View City Council unanimously voted to cancel its contract with Flock Safety and remove the cameras, rejecting any replacement technology.
- Discovery of the `national lookup` setting revealed that federal agencies accessed data from one camera between August–November 2024 without the city's knowledge, then turned the feature off in January 2026.
- Evidence shows the ALPRs helped police identify or arrest 41 suspects and provided actionable leads in various burglaries.
- Mountain View Police Chief Mike Canfield disabled all 30 Flock cameras earlier this month pending City Council direction, and Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to bar the sheriff's office from using Flock.
- Local critics argued that `Flock cameras are the equivalent of putting a GPS tracker on every single car in the county regardless of whether you've been suspected of a crime`, as Santa Cruz and Los Altos Hills recently cut ties with the vendor managing 80,000 AI-powered cameras nationwide.
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Mountain View terminates license plate camera contract
The Mountain View City Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to terminate its license plate camera contract with Flock Safety, heeding the calls of dozens of impassioned residents who spoke at the meeting urging the city to cut ties with the surveillance technology company. Police Chief Mike Canfield disclosed last month that unauthorized law enforcement agencies had searched the city’s license plate data for more than a year. With Tuesday’s vote…
Mountain View Council votes to get rid of license plate cameras
Mountain View City Council voted unanimously tonight (Feb. 24) to cancel its contract with Flock Safety, an automated license plate reader company, after data from city cameras was accessed by federal and state agencies without permission. Council heard from dozens of residents of both Mountain View, and nearby cities, urging council members to end the contract and to not replace Flock’s cameras with another company’s. Mountain View Police Chi…
Mountain View ends its automated license plate reader contract with Flock Safety
The city of Mountain View turned off its Flock cameras after the police chief said out-of-state agencies were accessing data collected in the city. During the city council meeting Tuesday night, council members voted to terminate the contract with Flock Safety
City Council terminates Mountain View's license plate camera contract
The Mountain View City Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to terminate its license plate camera contract with Flock Safety, heeding the calls of dozens of impassioned residents who spoke at the meeting urging the city to cut ties with the surveillance technology company. The post City Council terminates Mountain View’s license plate camera contract appeared first on Mountain View Voice.
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