Humboldt Supervisors Hash Out Privacy Concerns Over Flock’s Automated License Plate-Reading Cameras, Direct Sheriff’s Office to Improve Transparency | Lost Coast Outpost
https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2026/jun/3/flock/
Publish Date: 2026-06-03 16:28:00
Source Domain: lostcoastoutpost.com
Humboldt Sheriff William Honsal and Undersheriff Justin Braud speaking at Tuesday’s Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting.| Screenshot.
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In response to mounting concern over the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office’s use of Flock Safety’s automated license plate-reading (ALPR) cameras, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is directing the department to take extra steps to improve transparency and prevent potential misuse of the surveillance technology.
The board’s four-hour discussion, which touched on a wide range of issues surrounding modern surveillance tactics and data sharing, largely focused on the HCSO’s contract with Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based company that provides ALPR technology to more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies and 1,000 private businesses nationwide. Flock has come under fire in recent years, especially here in California, for allowing out-of-state and federal agencies to access information captured by its ALPR cameras, which violates Senate Bill 34.
Ultimately, the board voted 4-1, with First District Supervisor Rex Bohn dissenting, to form an ad hoc committee to look into alternatives to Flock Safety that would allow the HCSO to have greater control over its data, which is encrypted and stored in a cloud hosted by Amazon Web Services.
The board passed a second motion to direct Public Works staff to come up with a policy that will prevent the private use of ALPR cameras and other similar technology on county rights of way. The motion came in response to news that a Westhaven resident had installed a Flock camera at Westhaven Road and Scenic Drive, just south of Trinidad. (We’ll explain what happened in further detail, below.)
An automated license plate-reading camera. | Image courtesy of Flock Safety.
‘This is not about being anti-law enforcement’
Before we dig into the board’s discussion, a little bit of background on how these…
