AI-powered surveillance company will continue to monitor Oakland’s streets

OAKLAND The city will stick with a surveillance company that scans license plates to help law enforcement catch criminal persons a dramatic reversal of an earlier vote that had rejected the firm s new million contract The company Flock Safety will maintain an existing configuration of cameras to monitor the city s busiest streets and local state highways for up to two years while the Oakland Police Department conducts a competitive search for a long-term vendor Flock representatives have fended off criticisms and a lawsuit by a local privacy advocate that its vast trove of license plate information is accessed by federal immigration government in feasible violation of Oakland s sanctuary policies On Tuesday however the Oakland City Council voted - to award the company a new contract aligning with other East Bay cities that use similar equipment but overriding a previous vote by a council committee that rejected the deal The council tweaked the new contract to hold Flock to a promise not to share license plate information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement The city will also maintain its data-sharing agreement with California Highway Patrol which until now had been the primary law enforcement agency to manage the cameras by order of Gov Gavin Newsom If there is these slightest indication that this approach is being violated and used to harm our preponderance vulnerable communities we will cancel the contract commented City Councilmember Janani Ramachandran who described the deal as a two-year experiment Oakland City Councilmember Janani Ramachandran speaks about proposed budget amendments at a podium on the measures in front of City Hall alongside fellow council members Zac Unger right Charlene Wang far left and Rowena Brown Shomik Mukherjee Bay Area News Group OPD in the meantime will take to months to vet multiple vendors for a future contract an amendment secured by Councilmember Carroll Fife who nonetheless cast the lone dissenting vote in the city s decision Police leaders maintain the cameras have been a vital crime-fighting tool in an era when OPD s staffing has fallen precipitously Between July and last month the existing Flock cameras had led to arrests of which involved homicides The cameras had also led law enforcement to recover firearms and led to the capture of the suspect in last month s killing of beloved local football Coach John Beam OPD agents disclosed at Tuesday s council meeting Flock meanwhile has touted how its AI system scans live images for very specific details of vehicles though the company insists it does not employ facial-recognition application The city s Privacy Advisory Commission had urged the council to seek alternate vendors Brian Hofer the commission s bulk prominent former member resigned and even filed a lawsuit against the city after the council rejected the civilian-led body s recommendations More than residents speakers at Tuesday s meeting echoed the commission s concerns Flock is backed by the same billionaires that back President Trump declared speaker Elizabeth Corcoran in reference to an early funding in the company by the Trump-aligned venture capitalist Peter Thiel If we build a surveillance system in Oakland it will be used to target our society members as it has in other cities A peaceful demonstrator picks up an American flag that was lying on the ground as California Highway Patrol officers arrive in riot gear to disperse anti-immigration demonstrators protesting and blocking the entrance to U S Coast Guard Island after dozens of federal agents including personnel from U S Customs and Territory line Protection CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE entered the island earlier in Oakland Calif on Thursday Oct Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group Others however spoke in favor of Flock pointing to a poll conducted earlier this year by the city s chamber of commerce that indicated two-thirds of Oakland residents were broadly supportive of law enforcement surveillance The contract received ardent promotion from Councilmember Ken Houston a close ally of OPD as well as Councilmember Charlene Wang who earlier Tuesday held a Chinatown news conference with immigrants who spoke in favor of surveillance cameras It is crystal clear this innovation is needed to combat human trafficking especially to hold traffickers who are perpetuating commercial sex exploitation of our minors Wang explained referring to constituents in her district which includes areas around Lake Merritt The council s Tuesday vote saw a curriculum reversal by Councilmember Rowena Brown who helped craft the anti-ICE amendments to the contract but offered little other explanation for her new vote And it featured a yes vote from progressive Councilmember Zac Unger who implied the city may face blowback from the Trump administration if Oakland informed to the world that it was ditching its surveillance cameras Will this undertaking be perfect Unger urged No it won t But will we have the strongest safeguards of any city in the Bay Area using cameras We will Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland Call or text him at - - or email him at shomik bayareanewsgroup com