Morgan Hill, CA Flock Contract

Who approved this?

Approved 1-0 by Morgan Hill City Council on August 17, 2022.

The Morgan Hill City Council voted unanimously on August 17, 2022 to double the Flock Safety camera network from 25 to 50 fixed automated license plate readers. The equipment and software upgrade cost 74,750 dollars, with annual operating cost of 66,000 dollars on a one year renewal; the original July 2021 agreement ran one year at 62,500 dollars. The city owns the footage and the system deletes reads automatically after 30 days, with the 31st day named as the deletion point on the police department's own Flock Safety page. Department policy bars use of the system for towing or repossession companies, immigration status, unpaid fines and traffic enforcement, and officers must have cause and permission before searching; alerts are verified through emergency dispatch before officers respond. The police department reported 127 arrests and 170 recovered vehicles in the program's first year, against 16 recoveries the year before. The city page states the cameras do not perform facial recognition and are not used for traffic or immigration enforcement. Neither source names a funding source or a data sharing audit schedule.