MONTEREY PARK, Calif. — Residents in Monterey Park are split over the city’s use of Flock Safety license plate cameras, with some raising privacy and data security concerns and others backing the technology as a crime-fighting tool.
At a community meeting Tuesday, some residents said the system could expose personal information and raise the risk of data leaks. The cameras photograph license plates, along with vehicle make, model and color, and store that information in a database for investigations.
Opponents, including resident Steven Kung, said they worry security weaknesses could compromise privacy and that the information could be misused by outside agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese said the department has blocked sharing with federal agencies and third parties, and he said photographing vehicles on public roads is not a privacy violation.
Police said Monterey Park currently has 34 Flock cameras and spends about $100,000 a year on the system. The department said the cameras helped solve 39 cases in the past month and also played a key role in resolving the city’s deadly mass shooting three years ago.
