San Diegans demand city cancel automated license plate reader contracts
American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties, Youth Will and Trust SD joined a national week of action to oppose Flock Safety and Ubicquia cameras as dystopian and unsafe.
Written by Rami Alarian, Edited by Kate Morrissey
Dozens of San Diego residents packed a recent City Council Public Safety Committee meeting to call for an end to the use of automated license plate readers, warning of wrongful arrests and mass surveillance.
At a San Diego Public Safety Committee meeting on Aug. 19, as part of a national week of action, community members, including people from Youth Will, Trust SD and the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties, said automated license plate readers contributed to wrongful arrests and presented misuse and privacy issues. They described the technology as Orwellian and said the use of license plate readers makes them feel less safe.
“These technologies create a mosaic of people’s lives, where we can be tracked from the doctor’s office, dropping our children off at school, whether we’re getting gender-affirming care or going to a protest,” said Samantha Itazawa, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties.
Joshua Stewart, a spokesperson for Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, chair of the San Diego City Council Public Safety Committee, declined to provide a statement about the community members' concerns. He said the safety committee will release an annual surveillance report in the next couple months that will address them.
“That will be a time to hear councilmembers’ thoughts on the matter,” Stewart said.
Mayor Todd Gloria’s office said Gloria acknowledges the concerns surrounding automated license plate readers but that his support for them remains unchanged.
“Those incidents do not negate the role ALPRs play every day in helping SDPD investigate serious crimes, recover stolen vehicles and property and identify suspects,” his office said in an emailed statement.
Ashley Nicholes, communications manager for the San Diego Police Department, said the department has worked with the community to ensure all personnel are using the technology responsibly and lawfully.
“We continue to evaluate and update our safeguards,” Nicholes said.
Flock Safety did not respond to a request for comment.
Itazawa said the local American Civil Liberties Union has received over 2,000 signatures from people in San Diego who oppose all contracts with Flock Safety.
“Until the Flock systems and the ALPR systems are gone, we will continue to oppose them,” Itazawa said.
The San Diego City Council Public Safety Committee first approved a smart streetlight contract with both Ubicquia and Flock Safety three years ago. The full City Council later approved the five-year agreement as well.
Mayor Todd Gloria allocated $4 million in fiscal year 2024 for the purchase, maintenance and installation of the license plate readers, and the program costs roughly $2 million annually.
Since the approval of the Flock and Ubicquia contracts, San Diegans have shown up to the city’s Public Safety Committee to criticize the technology.
“Every dystopian society begins with mass surveillance of the common people,” Valerie Triena, a District 4 resident, told the committee last month.
Elizabeth Gibbon said a study by Vallejo police in the Bay Area found that up to 37% of fixed-position ALPR were misreads.
“Some have been jailed, including a San Diego man,” Gibbon said. “These are expensive lawsuits, and the payouts have been huge.”
San Diego police arrested Hugo Para on felony charges last year that Flock incorrectly linked him to — he and his car were five miles away from the crime when it happened.
Many attendees warned of police misuse, citing cases in which law enforcement have used the technology to stalk their former romantic partners. Around the country, authorities have accused at least 50 law enforcement officers of unauthorized use of the license plate readers to stalk women.
A person dressed up as Star Wars character Darth Vader attends a San Diego City Council Public Safety Committee meeting in San Diego on Wednesday, August 19, 2026. Rami Alarian/Daylight San Diego
A person dressed as Star Wars character Darth Vader made a satirical appearance during the committee meeting to speak in support of Flock Safety technology.
“We must continue utilizing Flock technologies so we can follow and surveil the rebel scum as they move from playground to playground, from playground to pool, from pool to gymnasium,” the Darth Vader cosplayer said. “I need this so I can stalk my ex-girlfriend.”
Carmen Valdez, a District 9 resident and policy and research intern for Youth Will, a youth advocacy organization, said continuing contracts with automated license plate reader technology companies felt scary, dangerous and creepy.
“It’s really sad to see how we’re using money to stalk and target vulnerable communities instead of investing it towards solutions,” Valdez said.
She said that as a daughter of two immigrants she wanted the city to invest in services with lasting impacts such as mental health care, public transit, accessibility and affordable housing.
Itazawa said that this protest isn’t the first and would not be the last.
“The more jurisdictions around the nation that are canceling their Flock contracts or ALPR contracts, that gives us hope that this is a trend nationwide,” Itazawa said. “We’re just hoping to build off of that momentum.”
