Aric Sleeper here, excited for readers to dig into my first cover story for the Monterey County Weekly about the hundreds of automated license plate reading (ALPR) cameras placed in locations around the county, recording every vehicle that passes by.
The cameras belong to a company called Flock Safety, and the data collected by the cameras is sold to local law enforcement agencies, along with a software interface that alerts officers on their cell phones when, for example, a car driven by a fugitive on the run cruises past.
Two state laws, SB 34 and SB 54, regulate which agencies California law enforcement can share ALPR data with. SB 54, the California Values Act, prohibits law enforcement from sharing data with immigration enforcement agencies, and SB 34 prohibits agencies from sharing ALPR camera data with out-of-state and federal agencies.
As I began reporting on the issue, I spoke with Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges—who showed our photographer Daniel Dreifuss and I how the Flock Safety software interface works on a computer and a phone—and Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto, who, like Borges, praised the system and stressed how useful a tool it has become for law enforcement.
After speaking with the chiefs and subsequently poring over the ALPR camera audit data, obtained by the Weekly through California Public Records Act requests, I discovered that the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office had shared its data in 2025 with law enforcement agencies across the country, including Rhode Island, Michigan, Texas and Utah, to name a few. I had not expected the revelation as the Sheriff’s Office said it had found no illegal data sharing on its end, but there it was.
Despite the breaches of state law, which are similar to the illegal data sharing that occurred in cities such as Santa Cruz, and ultimately led the Santa Cruz City Council to drop its contract with Flock Safety, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office will not be ending its relationship with the company, according to Nieto.
Borges said that his department receives data from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, but doesn’t share Seaside’s data, despite the ban on sharing with out-of-state agencies.
And whether that’s legal or not was a question no one could answer for me before my deadline.
(1) comment
SB34 and SB54 should be repealed. Both were designed to protect illegal immigrants and other lawbreakers like people with over-stayed visas. If you are a law abiding citizen or documented resident, what do you have to hide? Both bills are purely politically driven.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.