Unbiased author Larry Kubin toured the town to discover a large community of surveillance.
In an aerial view, an automatic license plate reader is seen mounted on a pole on June 13, 2024, in San Francisco, California. Unbiased author Larry Kubin of The Fogline toured the town to discover a large community of surveillance, together with Flock Security cameras. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Photos)
He discovered round 700 San Francisco Police Division drone flights in February alone, a rundown of city-owned tech, separate personal cameras and a push for much more surveillance.
Among the many tech are round 400 Flock Security automated license plate readers utilized by SFPD. Police Chief Derrick Lew mentioned this week that out-of-state and federal legislation enforcement companies had “improperly” accessed the information, after the Northern California Regional Intelligence Middle queried the system tons of of instances.
The incident prompted SFPD to cease sharing Flock information with NCRIC and one other company, the Western States Info Community.
It wasn’t the primary of the town’s issues with Flock. In 2025, an investigation by The San Francisco Normal revealed that SFPD had allowed out-of-state companies to look its system 1.6 million instances, a potential violation of state legislation. Some SFPD personnel additionally appeared to make searches on behalf of federal companies.
The Bay Space cities of Santa Cruz, Mountain View, El Cerrito and the city of Los Altos Hills have canceled Flock contracts over worries of improper information sharing, all of which discovered their very own information had been searched in comparable methods. Santa Clara County additionally iced the corporate out, and Berkeley council members final month authorized a contract extension however not an enlargement.
Flock’s consideration within the media, plus a 2019 have a look at Seattle’s surveillance infrastructure, was a part of Kubin’s inspiration for the tour.
“I wished to look extra into that as a result of my preliminary response was, like, ‘Oh, studying a license plate, that’s not so dangerous,’” Kubin mentioned. However then he began recognizing cameras in “postcard views” of the town and locations the place folks chill. He mentioned it seems like a a lot completely different world than when he was rising up.
“We shouldn’t have to want this a lot know-how. We shouldn’t want a police surveillance know-how stock that’s persevering with to develop,” Kubin added.
For that, he partially blames the town’s voter-approved Proposition E. The 2024 poll measure permits SFPD to roll out new surveillance know-how for a full 12 months with out an official coverage.
“I’m simply picturing the place we at the moment are and whether or not it might probably grow to be like a sci-fi TV present, proper? They’re not doing this now, however you’ll be able to see with these new powers of issues like Proposition E,” Kubin mentioned. “The checks and balances are a bit looser.”
Proponents of the measure have defended it, with a former spokesperson for the Sure on E marketing campaign saying officers are “extremely skilled and must be trusted to make good selections” about the usage of drones in high-speed chases.
SFPD’s surveillance community has elevated lately. The Division opened its totally operational Actual Time Investigation Middle at its headquarters final 12 months. Mayor Daniel Lurie touted it as an necessary useful resource in his efforts to maintain the town secure and clear.
The middle homes a central hub that synthesizes real-time information from Flock cameras, drones and different public security cameras. As of the reopening, the middle helped make no less than 800 arrests, in accordance with ABC7.
However the San Francisco-based Digital Frontier Basis is a critic of the middle and the way it got here to be.
EFF mentioned that these facilities, which different cities like San Jose have too, are “principally management rooms that pull collectively all feeds from an unlimited warrantless digital dragnet.”
SFPD’s heart was funded partly by Prop. E, with later further backing from crypto billionaire and Ripple CEO Chris Larsen. Larsen, by Ripple and his nonprofit San Francisco Police Group Basis, gifted $9.4 million to the brand new headquarters.
Larsen’s assist was one other inspiration for Kubin’s deep-dive into surveillance. He mentioned that, whereas Larsen’s “crypto billionaire” title was not sufficient for him to be upset, his identify had come up loads in funding rising police know-how.
Kubin mentioned that the introduction of every surveillance device in isolation — Flock automated license plate reader cameras, drones, ShotSpotter know-how and so forth — may’ve made sense on the time for security. However he worries that it quickly evolves into one thing else.
“The truth that all these completely different modalities are coming collectively into this Actual-Time Investigation Middle – the entire of that’s now better than the sum of its elements,” Kubin mentioned.
