Menlo Park, CA Flock Contract

Who approved this?

No source names who approved this contract yet. The city clerk holds the approval file.

Menlo Park police run a network of 35 Flock Safety automated license plate readers and rebuilt their sharing rules in 2026 after two rounds of improper access. In August 2025 the Houston Police Department and an Illinois police department were granted access to Menlo Park data, which SB 34 bars because both sit outside California. A June 2026 audit found the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center had run about 700 noncompliant searches out of 214,147 total, roughly 0.33 percent, for federal agencies working violent crime, fugitive, human trafficking and crimes against children cases. On July 9, 2026 the department revoked every existing data sharing agreement and now requires each outside agency to sign a Menlo Park specific agreement affirming compliance with state law and city rules, commit to periodic internal audits, and accept loss of access for noncompliance. The department also began quarterly audits of outside searches, and the first quarter covering April through June 2026 reviewed 122,450 searches and found all of them compliant. The San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury report of August 3, 2026 counts Menlo Park at 32 cameras as of March 30, 2026; the 35 figure from the August 27, 2026 Mountain View Voice report is used because it is the later count. No contract amount, term or council approval date appears in either source. The Almanac report on the October 8, 2024 council vote states that first year costs for 35 fixed license plate reader cameras are pegged at $133,000, of which $20,500 would be covered by grant funding, with ongoing annual costs of $112,500.