Public has spoken: Get the Flock (cameras) out of Auburn

Editor's note: This story was updated at 9:09 a.m. Aug. 12, 2026, to add information. It wasn't on the agenda, but Flock cameras were the main event at the Auburn City Council meeting on Monday night, Aug. 10. It was in June 2022 that the council approved the purchase of six additional Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras. Nearly four years later, in March, they were being stolen, damaged and tossed into Auburn canals. Auburn City Hall was nearly filled for the meeting, mostly for the public comment segment, when more than a dozen people voiced their displeasure with the Flock cameras. Zoe Haskins, a 2022 Placer High School graduate and a leader of DeFlock Auburn, said outside after public comment that public records requests found 4.8 million Placer County searches by out-of-state agencies for 12 cameras, in violation of California Civil Code, according to DeFlockauburnca.com. Haskins said 1.4 million searches of Auburn did not include a reason for the search. "We believe there's sort of a lack of accountability and transparency," Haskins said. "The Flock company itself is really big on that. We believe in a right to privacy. We don't believe our data should be sold." One speaker noted a petition has gathered 675 signatures against the cameras. Another noted the Los Angeles Police Department allowed its Flock contract to expire. Still another person said matter-of-factly, "Nobody likes these cameras." City Clerk Amy Lind added nine emails received were against the cameras. Even so, Auburn Police Chief Bryan Morrison still approves of their use, telling the Auburn Journal after the meeting adjourned, "What is going to protect this community from people coming in and victimizing those that we serve? That, first and foremost, is most important. My belief in them, and there have been proving circumstances to where they have removed people who put members of this community in jeopardy." More than a dozen speakers and several pairs of "jazz hands" (rather than applause) later, Auburn Mayor Kelley Davis asked Interim City Manager James Lindsay if a town hall could be arranged. Lindsay said yes, as soon as next month. Councilmember Sandy Amara asked for specifics into the benefits and problems associated with the cameras. Lindsay said the data would include the make and model of the cameras, how Auburn is using the technology, benefits and the police department's experience with the cameras – information that could be shared during a community forum. Lindsay also said a council item following the town hall "would be logical." "A town hall meeting is an opportunity to really discuss an issue more at length without taking action on that item," Councilmember Alice Dowdin Calvillo told the Journal after the meeting. "When there's an issue of interest to folks, then we want to really flush it out. If there's an issue that's controversial in the community, it's just a great opportunity to get some information presented by staff, give the public an opportunity to comment, give the council an opportunity to talk, and ask questions as well and then ultimately we may take some direction." Kurtis Ostrom of DeFlock Auburn recalled the police department's original pitch for Flock cameras to the city council in 2022 being "surface-level corporate talking points. We believe the data. It doesn't leave your city, it doesn't leave your state, blah-blah-blah. And then, 2022 wasn't on people's radars like it is now. … Even in the 2026 meeting when they did the 2025 budget recap, policing data for Auburn, they touched on it again because I think people were starting to take note of the Flock cameras at that point." Today, Flock cameras are being criticized in cities across the country because of concerns about data sharing, invasion of privacy and even misuse by police officers in Georgia. Multiple cities have let their contracts expire. Back in Placer County, a recent Business Insider report from Roseville noted 71-percent inaccuracy by Flock in reading plates. And at the Auburn City Council meeting Monday night, Scott Johnson of Clipper Gap said during public comment he incorrectly was given a ticket in the Bay Area. Ostrom and Haskins heard all about the camera thefts, vandalism and dispatching the devices in town canals. "I don't really support vandalism. I don't really think people should be going out breaking public property, private property; that's not the right way to do things," Ostrom said. "On the flip side of that, I would say nobody should be surprised. I don't think it should be shocking to anyone when these AI-operated surveillance cameras pop up around town." Meanwhile, Haskins said she was encouraged by the council's desire to hold a town hall, saying, "Absolutely, yeah. They were a lot more receptive than the Roseville City Council meeting we went to." Morrison stands by the use of the cameras. He said Auburn PD's ALPR system located a person who was wanted on a child pornography case and fled to Southern California. More recently, ALPR helped take a person into custody who was responsible for stealing a tractor from the Auburn Area Recreation and Parks District storage building. The cameras also helped Auburn PD locate a child who was involved in a parental abduction case who was fleeing the area. "Me personally, if I didn't believe in them and it being for the greater good of the community in terms of protecting the community – that's what we do is protect the community, also serve the community, so we're kind of walking that line where serving the community kind of falls within the greater belief of the community," he said with Auburn PD's popular service dog Bolo by his side. "But at the same time, as a professional being in the industry 28 years, I definitely see a greater good in terms of protecting the community. That's where I stand."