The Perris City Council on Tuesday voted to suspend their contract with surveillance company Flock Safety. The decision comes after pressure from residents concerned about their privacy.
The council first voted to sign a contract agreement with Flock Safety in March of 2024. The company installed 104 license plate recognition cameras at intersections throughout the city for roughly $650,000. That contract expired in June.
At the meeting, the Riverside County Sheriff’s department gave a presentation sharing how Flock Safety’s technology has helped the agency reduce crime.
Before the meeting, Sheriff department spokesperson Lieutenant Deirdre Vickers told KVCR that the technology is crucial for providing “timely vehicle information” for serious crimes and missing persons cases.
“Losing this ability would cause significant investigative delays for people and businesses in the community,” Vickers said.
But many people who spoke at the meeting opposed using Flock Safety’s license plate readers, citing privacy and safety concerns. Ashley Williamson, who lives in the city and is a member of R.I.S.E. Perris Pride, said they had concerns with the technology’s inaccuracies and surveillance use.
“Flock AI has misidentified plates and cars at a much greater rate than they advertise,” Williamson said.
Councilmember Malcolm Corona, who voted to suspend the Flock contract, said one of the main reasons the city pursued license plate reader technology was to combat vehicle theft. Since 2022, motor vehicle theft saw a 60% drop according to crime statistics from the Riverside County Sheriff’s office.
But now, Corona says the problem is that Flock Safety has lost the public’s trust.
“At this time, our communities need to have trust, not only in our law enforcement, but in the tools that they use,” said Corona. “I would be open to suspending Flock at this time, until safeguards are put in place…”
Councilmember Marisela Nava questioned the safety of Flock’s surveillance tools and how it stores its data.
“I really want to be responsive to my community,” Nava said. “At this point, this tool isn’t making them feel safe.”
Councilmember David Starr Rabb and Mayor Michael Vargas voted no on the contract suspension. Both said that data collection sharing with other entities isn’t a concern to them.
“There’s no state sharing,” Vargas said. “This is not an immigration tool.”
Rabb also said the city would have to answer to future crime victims impacted by the absence of Flock license plate readers.
“We’re going to have to go to those people and say we took the cameras down,” Rabb said. “Are we prepared to do that?”
Meanwhile, Andrew Smith, a spokesperson for Flock Safety, said the company is proud of the impact of their technology in Perris and across Riverside County.
“Everyday across California, our technology helps investigators quickly develop leads and get objective evidence to reunite missing people and solve crimes faster,” Smith said.
Perris is the first city in the Inland Empire to suspend a contract with Flock Safety. But in 2023, the City of Coachella rejected a proposal to install roughly 70 of Flock Safety’s license plate reader cameras.