A Flock Safety automated license plate reader camera installed on a street pole. The devices record vehicle movements and store data for law enforcement use, prompting growing privacy concerns. (Courtesy Flock Safety)

Rohnert Park’s network of license-plate reader cameras isn’t going away. But after a long, uneasy public debate, city leaders agreed to put some limits on how much data police can hold on to.

Late on Jan. 27, the City Council voted to reduce retention of data collected by its Flock Safety cameras from one year to 30 days. The vote passed 4-0, with one councilmember absent.

The decision came after residents warned that the city’s growing surveillance system lacks meaningful civilian oversight and carries real risks — from hacking to misuse by outside agencies.

Rohnert Park Police Chief Tim Mattos told the council the city currently operates 32 Flock devices: 30 automated license-plate readers and two live pan-tilt-zoom surveillance cameras.

Ten of the plate readers are funded by SONCAT, a regional public safety partnership. The remaining cameras are paid for by the city.

“We currently have a retention policy of 365 days,” Mattos said. “We’re asking to change that retention policy to reduce retention of Flock camera footage or information to 30 days.”

Mattos cited recent cases involving stolen vehicles, robberies and sideshow enforcement as examples of how the system is used. He also said the city chose Flock over other vendors because it allows Rohnert Park to share information with surrounding jurisdictions.

“If we had one of those systems, it would work in the city,” he said. “But once someone left the city, it would be useless.”

That regional reach is precisely what alarmed many speakers.

Public comment stretched late into the meeting, with residents questioning both the technology itself and the policies governing it.

“It’s not a cloud. It’s someone else’s computer,” resident Steve Keith told the council. “That can be hacked.”

Several speakers urged the city to cancel its Flock contract altogether, pointing to Santa Cruz and Eureka, which have recently walked away from similar systems.

“Please join the cities like Eureka and Santa Cruz in canceling their contracts with Flock Safety,” one resident said.

“With the lawlessness and chaos we have recently seen from ICE, there is no reason we should do anything that could potentially give them access to people’s personal data” said Alyn Wolves.

Another speaker said she opposed surveillance of any kind, regardless of how long data is stored.

Fears about immigration enforcement were a recurring theme.

Speakers cited reporting showing that in some California cities, license-plate reader data was accessed by federal agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, often through indirect or poorly understood data-sharing pathways.

Santa Cruz recently terminated its Flock contract after learning that plate data from multiple jurisdictions had been searched on behalf of federal law enforcement. Richmond shut down its system after discovering a national search feature had been enabled.

Paul Lieber, who identified himself as representing the Sonoma County ACLU, urged Rohnert Park not to rely on vendor promises.

“Even if the company says they don’t share with ICE, the information is finding its way to ICE,” Lieber said. He urged the council to terminate the contract entirely.

Several residents said the problem isn’t just the cameras — it’s the lack of public control over them.

Jim Duffy, a longtime Rohnert Park resident, called for a surveillance technology ordinance and independent civilian oversight.

“Surveillance technology ordinance, civilian oversight — it’s that simple,” Duffy said.

Another resident described being the victim of a hit-and-run and said police declined to use license-plate reader data to identify the driver, raising questions about when and how the technology is actually used.

lock Safety public affairs manager Lily Ho appeared alongside Millward to address security concerns.

Ho confirmed the cameras use cellular service through Verizon and said data is stored on AWS GovCloud, a federally certified environment used by government agencies.

“Our data is saved on the AWS GovCloud,” she said. “It is FBI CJIS-certified.”

Ho also said the company itself is not facing lawsuits, noting that legal challenges are aimed at cities’ use of the technology rather than the vendor.

Mattos suggested the city could revive a civilian advisory group to review audits and discuss surveillance practices on an ongoing basis, similar to oversight models used in other Sonoma County cities.

For now, Rohnert Park has narrowed how long license-plate data is kept while leaving the system itself intact.

Whether that compromise will satisfy residents remains unclear. For many speakers, the core question wasn’t about retention periods.

It was about who gets to decide how much surveillance is acceptable in the first place.

Corrected 1/29 to correct the spelling of Alyn Wolves’ name, and a more accurate quote from his statement. Corrected 1/30 to correct Tim Mattos’ name.