The Oxnard Police Department (OPD) has suspended its operation of Flock Safety’s (Flock) fixed-position Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR).
The purpose of ALPR’s is to assist in criminal investigations, including addressing violent crimes, stolen vehicles, missing persons, and other serious offenses. OPD views ALPR technology as a highly valuable and effective tool in addressing crime. OPD deployed nineteen (19) Flock Safety fixed-position ALPR cameras across the city.
Flock’s ALPR system captures images of license plates and vehicle characteristics, but does not capture images of drivers or passengers. The ALPR data is then stored in an encrypted cloud environment for thirty (30) days before its deletion. Authorized personnel from agencies that use Flock ALPR technology can query the data for the purpose of locating instances when and where a vehicle was detected by an ALPR camera. Agencies may authorize other entities to access their information, creating a shared network environment.
California law prohibits sharing of ALPR data with entities outside of California. This includes federal law enforcement agencies. Because of this, OPD’s “National Lookup” feature on the Flock system was turned off at the very beginning of its Flock ALPR deployment, which began in December of 2023.
Earlier this year, some California agencies across the state discovered that due to a vendor-based issue, their Flock Safety National Lookup feature had inexplicably been turned on during a period of time in February through March of 2025. Flock Safety confirmed that a review of agency audit logs within the Flock platform revealed that during a period in 2025, some California law enforcement agencies’ camera networks became accessible to out-of-state law enforcement agencies. This meant that agencies outside of California, including federal ones, were able to include them in their queries. The issue affected multiple California law enforcement agencies, including within Ventura County. Flock Safety recently advised OPD and Ventura County law enforcement leadership that in order to address the issue, the National Lookup feature was disabled for all California agencies in March of 2025.
When OPD heard about this vendor-related issue that occurred with the Flock Safety platform, it initiated an audit of its Flock Safety ALPR data for calendar year 2025. In 2025, OPD’s Flock system received over 5 million queries.
The audit revealed that even though OPD’s Flock Safety security settings had been set to “California only” access, a vendor-enabled “nationwide query” allowed agencies from outside of California, which also include federal agencies, to query OPD’s data without OPD’s knowledge or approval. The audit did not find unauthorized access during the February to March period. The audit noted that in May of 2025, the US Department of Veterans Affairs Police Department at Loma Linda Medical Center, a federal law enforcement agency, conducted two (2) nationwide queries that included OPD in its search. Both queries were related to criminal investigations, and had no connection to immigration enforcement.
Given the circumstances, the Oxnard Police Department has suspended its operation of Flock Safety’s fixed-position Automated License Plate Readers.
Police Chief Jason Benites: “The Oxnard Police Department relied on Flock Safety’s established security protocols. We were disappointed when Flock Safety’s shortcoming, the cause of which remains without explanation, allowed unauthorized data sharing. In meetings with company representatives this week, Flock Safety has taken full responsibility for the error in the platform, and has assured us that it has made changes to both safeguard it, and ensure it remains fully compliant with all California laws and regulations. They have assured us that they disabled the National Lookup feature for all California law enforcement agencies.”
He added, “We recognize the tremendous benefits of ALPR technology as an investigative tool that helps reduce crime and improves community safety. However, all technology used must comply with California law and our own standards. Proper guardrails must not only be in place, but they must work reliably. As a result of the Department’s internal review, along with similar findings reported by other California agencies, the Oxnard Police Department has decided to suspend the use of its Flock Safety fixed-position ALPR cameras. This suspension will remain in place until we are fully confident that our data is secure and that appropriate searching safeguards have not only been established, but have shown a track record that firmly supports the remediation effort.”
Chief Benites added further, “Vendor-related failures of this nature erode our public trust of not just the technology, but the agency that uses it. The decision to suspend the use of Flock Safety fixed-position ALPR technology was made after thorough review and careful consideration. We regret that circumstances necessitated this action. Our action to take pause with this, and let our public know of the issue, reflects our commitment to transparency and our responsibility to safeguard the trust our community places in us.”