Logo courtesy of Flock Safety

MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) – Yuba County sheriff’s officials are defending their use of automated license plate readers as a valuable crime-fighting tool, pointing to cases ranging from an Olivehurst homicide to narcotics investigations while responding to growing concerns over privacy and oversight.

Yuba County Undersheriff Nick Morawcznski last week gave the Board of Supervisors a detailed presentation on the county’s Flock Safety camera network, explaining how it operates, what information it collects and changes the Sheriff’s Office has made as concerns about the technology grow nationally.

The county has used Flock since 2022 and currently has 33 cameras positioned along public roadways in unincorporated Yuba County. Other Flock equipment brings the countywide total to 40 cameras, including live-feed cameras used for election security and at the Sycamore Ranch recreation area, with two cameras currently not functioning.

The Flock cameras take still photographs rather than video and use optical character recognition to convert plate numbers into searchable data. The information can be checked against law enforcement databases for stolen vehicles, wanted people and missing or endangered people, but any alert must be verified by dispatchers and deputies before action is taken.

Morawcznski pointed to a 2026 Olivehurst homicide investigation as an example of the system’s value. After witnesses provided descriptions of a vehicle leaving the area, a Flock search helped investigators identify the vehicle, its license plate and registered owner within six minutes. The information helped develop suspects in the homicide, including one who was later apprehended at the San Ysidro border crossing while attempting to flee to Mexico.

Morawcznski also described a robbery in which a suspect removed his license plates before committing the crime. Investigators had a description of the vehicle and searched earlier Flock images, finding the same vehicle photographed hours earlier while the plates were still attached. The information helped investigators identify the suspect, who was later apprehended by another agency.

In another case, home surveillance captured the vehicle used in the theft of a child’s BMX bicycle but did not provide a readable license plate. A deputy searched Flock images, obtained the plate number and traced the vehicle to a local address, where the bicycle was recovered and returned to its owner.

The system has also been used in narcotics investigations. Morawcznski reported that investigations aided by Flock in 2026 contributed to seizures of more than a kilogram of cocaine, 115 pounds of methamphetamine, a half-kilogram of heroin and 35,000 fentanyl tablets.

However, the technology has become increasingly controversial. The American Civil Liberties Union has mounted a national campaign against Flock and similar camera networks, arguing that collecting vehicle movements creates a mass-surveillance system capable of revealing where people live, work, worship, obtain medical care or participate in political activity.

California law restricts how Flock information can be used and shared. Under Senate Bill 34, state and local law enforcement agencies may not share information collected by the cameras with federal or out-of-state law enforcement agencies. Morawcznski said Yuba County complies with those restrictions and prohibits searches related to immigration enforcement or reproductive care as outlined in the law. He said the department does share information with participating California law enforcement agencies because suspects and vehicles frequently move between jurisdictions.

Morawcznski said each user must identify a law enforcement purpose before conducting a search and select an offense classification. The Sheriff’s Office also requires personnel to identify how the vehicle is connected to an investigation, such as a suspect vehicle, victim vehicle, missing or endangered person, investigative lead or another agency’s investigation.

Searchable vehicle data has been retained for 30 days, Morawcznski said. After that period, investigators can no longer search the captured vehicle information, although records showing that searches were conducted are retained for auditing.

Public scrutiny has already resulted in changes locally.

Morawcznski said public records requests from Yuba County resident Thomas Hammack raised questions about information missing from the Sheriff’s Office Flock transparency portal. A subsequent review found that reasons for some searches and offense types were recorded internally but were not appearing publicly.

The Sheriff’s Office worked with Flock to change its settings, and the portal now displays a search reason and offense type for each entry.

The review uncovered another problem. Morawcznski said the department found shortcomings in documentation of earlier audits required under its policy. The Sheriff’s Office has since reviewed all of its 2025 and 2026 records and plans to continue working backward to the program’s 2022 inception.

Hammack remained unconvinced. During public comment at the Aug. 11 meeting, he argued that missing training and audit records exposed the county to potential liability under SB 34 and urged the Board of Supervisors to discontinue the surveillance program rather than attempt to correct its shortcomings.

County counsel disputed Hammack’s interpretation of the law, saying the Sheriff’s Office is complying with SB 34. Counsel said the department has the required written privacy policy and conducted required public outreach before beginning the program. Counsel also said the law requires training but does not require every training record sought through a Public Records Act request to be maintained.

Morawcznski said the department is also implementing Flock’s Audit Assist feature, which can flag unusual search activity for administrators to review, including searches outside normal parameters or activity involving multiple case numbers.

He acknowledged that the technology, like other law enforcement tools, could be abused and said safeguards are necessary.

“Proper checks and balances need to be in place to ensure that those responsibilities are carried out in accordance with the oath that every one of us took to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Morawcznski said.

Two days after Morawcznski’s presentation, Flock announced changes to its nationwide system, including reducing its default data-retention period from 30 days to seven days. The company also announced mandatory automated auditing designed to flag potentially improper searches and plans to require searches to be tied to case information.