Grass Valley police remove Flock cameras again after unexpected reinstallations

Flock Safety says an automated maintenance system mistakenly triggered the reinstallation of license plate cameras that Grass Valley police had already removed after canceling the city's contract with the company.

Residents alerted police over the weekend after spotting a utility crew replacing cameras at several locations around the city. Officers disconnected at least two of the reinstalled cameras, and the department said Sunday it was monitoring other sites for any that returned.

In a statement Monday, Flock said Grass Valley removed the cameras itself shortly after announcing plans to end the contract, before the cancellation and equipment-removal process had been fully processed in the company's systems.

Because the cameras suddenly appeared offline, Flock said its automated maintenance system interpreted them as equipment failures and generated replacement work orders.

"Those work orders have now been canceled, and we are expediting the remaining steps to process the termination and ensure no additional maintenance or replacement activity occurs," the company said.

Grass Valley police had previously said the department sent termination notices to Flock by email and certified mail but had not received a response.

Police Chief Alex Gammelgard announced Aug. 11 that the department would stop using automated license plate readers after reviewing concerns about warrantless data collection, privacy protections, data retention and how information can be shared with government and non-government entities.

The decision followed months of pressure from residents and privacy advocates.

Grass Valley had used Flock technology since 2021. Similar automated license plate reader systems remain widely used by law enforcement agencies across the Sacramento region, even as privacy and surveillance concerns have become a recurring issue at local government meetings.