In June of 2026, Visalia Police Department decided they no longer wanted the public to know why they were accessing the Flock Automated License Plate Reader system.
Let’s look at Visalia PD’s “Transparency Page” .CSV file for two different 30 day periods this year. Here’s the one starting on May 5, 2026, which contains the “reason” field in the log.
From the left to the right, we see the following ; an ID number, apparently coded. The “user ID” is merely asterisks. No public idea who is accessing the data. Next is the date and time, in “Zulu” time, which is UTC, which is Greenwich Mean Time. (London, England) Next is the number of “networks” being searched. I don’t know if this means number of cameras, or number of agencies, businesses, and organizations. The final field is “reason”. Each search of the database requires a reason for the search. They’ve told us each access requires a case number, but it’s never been listed on the public facing page. As it is, some of the “reason” entries are simply meaningless. More on that in a bit.
Now, starting sometime in June of 2026, VPD has removed the “reason” field from the file. I’m going to assume it’s visible on their side of the site (all of this stuff sits on Flock servers, requiring users to log in and access the information remotely), but we can no longer see it. Our “transparency” is becoming more opaque.
Flock Automated License Plate readers have been increasingly in the news recently, as problems with the surveillance system have come to light. Many communities have begun to re-think their use of Flock. Los Angeles PD is one large agency that has decided to revisit their use, and has put renewing their subscription on hold for now. Here are my thoughts on Flock and other similar license plate reader operations.
In a perfect world, computer-based information systems like Flock would be a powerful tool for law enforcement. Put in a license plate number, or a vehicle description, and given enough cameras in the system, pinpoint where a stolen car went (or is), find a missing elderly person who drove off and has become confused on how to get home, or a myriad of other scenarios that might benefit from accessing such a database.
It started April 24, 2026. I filed a public records request for information on the Flock Automated License Plate Reader system the City of Visalia was utilizing. Today, August 3, 2026, I got the final response. Basically, “NO”. The only thing they sent me that was not readily available on the Visalia Police Department Flock Transparency page was a list of “audits”, reporting which agencies had access to Visalia’s Flock network. It was in the tens of thousands of PDF pages. What that revealed is a whole blog post in itself, perhaps at a later date. (I did not see any evidence in those pages of any non-California agencies accessing Visalia Police Department’s database, such as ICE or Homeland Security. There’s a loop-hole about that, however.)
The only thing they were willing to tell me about my vehicle being identified, cataloged, and stored in the Flock database was that they didn’t have any record of Visalia PD checking for my plate. I suppose that’s good. Of course, it doesn’t mean that they haven’t, after my request.
Here are the blog posts I’ve made during this investigation:
“What the Flock?” My first notice of the Flock cameras in Visalia.
“Well, Flock Me!” Stories about agencies cancelling their Flock contracts due to violations of state law by Flock.
“More Flock, More Fun” Another blogger runs the stuff I’ve done through an AI for analysis.
“Flock You Later” The Police Department opts to take their allowed 14 day extension to respond to my request.
“Flock the Lawyers” The Police Department hands my request off to the City’s lawyers. That’s seldom a good sign.
“Flock Me A Little Bit” They send me the list of which agencies can access VPD Flock data, and want me to prove the license plate I asked about is mine.
“Tick Tock Tick Flock” The lawyers dump a huge file on me, with audit logs of agencies that accessed Visalia’s Flock data. Want to know the biggest user, by far? California Highway Patrol. They routinely check thousands of camera files.
So they’ve decided “…data is exempt from public disclosure under the public records act balancing test because the public interest in preventing disclosure clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure…” and “Visalia PD’s policy “Because such data may contain confidential information, it is not open to public view.” (Policy 428.2.)”
They took 14 weeks to determine they wouldn’t give me data on myself. Due diligence, or deliberate delay?
Visalia Police Department Public Records Request – update
On April 19, 2026, I posted “What the Flock?“, my first entry about the proliferation of Flock Automated License Plate Readers in Visalia, California.
On April 24, 2026, I posted “Well, Flock Me!“, about a nearby community (Merced, California) disabling their Flock ALPR system after problems with unauthorized access were discovered. On that same day, I filed a Public Records Request with the Visalia Police Department, about Visalia’s recent installation of Flock cameras. The City had ten days to respond.
On May 5, 2026, I posted “Flock you later“, where the City of Visalia takes advantage of a 14 day extension to provide the requested documents.
On May 11, 2026, I posted “Flock the Lawyers“, wherein the City informs me they have to run it past the lawyers first, and they were targeting June 1, 2026 for release of the documents.
On May 27, 2026, “Flock Me A Little Bit” is the next chapter, in which the City is initially refusing to provide some of the requested documentation, since I was requesting the images in the system of a particular license plate. My license plate. I sent them a copy of my vehicle registration. The next target date for complying with my request was June 20, 2026.
On June 29, 2026, I posted to Facebook, tagging both the City of Visalia and the Visalia Police Department, that they were nine days past their own due date for information. That was at 1pm. By 3pm, I received a “supplemental response to your public records request”, via email. This response stated “The attached document shows the result of a Department audit searching for any monitoring and investigating activity for JJRJR. No data exists.” Except that wasn’t what I asked them to provide. I had no reason to suspect the Police Department deliberately did a search for my license plate, for whatever reason. What I asked for was every instance of my plate being recorded by the system. Those are two different things. They are not going to convince me that my plate has never been recorded by their system.
In that response, they also moved the date again. More information was supposed to be available July 20, 2026.
On July 10, 2026, I received this letter, and a link to a DropBox file with audit logs.
They state “The Department’s staff is continuing its diligent search and review of requested records. The Department’s staff members estimate they will be able to supplement this response on or about August 20, 2026, earlier if able.”
The next chapter in our Flock Me series is here! Today I received this email from the Visalia Police Department’s lawyers. (I’m going to have to ask why they have an out-of-town law firm doing this, and not the city attorney.)(UPDATE: It’s not actually an out-of-town firm. It’s a local, Visalia law firm. Not sure why I was thinking it’s an out-of-town company. Oops.)
I’ve sent them an image of my vehicle registration, so I hope to get the images of every time my car has been photographed by the system in Visalia. We’ll see.
Here’s the data on the agencies who can access the Visalia Police Department’s camera system. I’m going to have to study it a bit to figure out exactly what it means, and it does not (so far) answer the question of who *actually* accessed the data. This seems to indicate who is allowed to have access, which is not really what I asked. We’ll see if future information dumps include that little detail.
Some more License Plate Reader fun. KMPH 26 posted a story about Merced’s Police Department discovering a, shall we say – just to be very understanding of the complexity of computerized systems – a “mis-configuration” of their automated license plate reader system. Although not the Flock ALPR, like Visalia’s, they released a statement on April 23, 2026, saying, in part, the following:
Merced, Calif – In the interest of transparency, the Merced Police Department is addressing recent concerns regarding automated license plate reader (ALPR) data sharing.
Following these reports, the Department conducted a comprehensive internal review of its ALPR system. That review determined that prior system configurations allowed data sharing with certain federal agencies.
Upon identifying this issue, the Department immediately disabled the identified connections and will continue to conduct additional audits to ensure ongoing compliance.
Merced joins Santa Cruz, Oxnard, and Ventura Police Departments to identify (through media reports, not, apparently, through their own oversight) problems with unauthorized access to their databases. Each agency has said they’ve fixed the problems, but one has to wonder how many other instances of unauthorized access have occurred.
I’ve sent the following Public Records Request to the Visalia Police Department:
To: Custodian of Records Visalia Police Department 303 S Johnson St. Visalia, CA 93291 (Or via NextRequest Portal)
Date: April 24, 2026
RE: CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REQUEST – FLOCK ALPR DATA SHARING AND SPECIFIC PLATE RECORDS
To the Custodian of Records:
Under the California Public Records Act (Gov. Code § 7920.000 et seq.) and California Civil Code § 1798.90.5 et seq., I am requesting the following public records held by the Visalia Police Department (VPD):
System Access & Inter-Agency Sharing Logs: Any and all records, audit logs, or documentation showing access to data compiled by the VPD via the Flock Safety ALPR system by any agency other than the Visalia Police Department. This request includes, but is not limited to:
Lists of “Hot List” hits shared with outside agencies.
Audit trails showing when outside agencies (federal, state, or local) queried the VPD’s Flock database.
Current lists of all agencies with whom the VPD has a data-sharing agreement for ALPR data.
The time frame for this request is from the initial installation/implementation of the Flock system to the present date.
Specific License Plate Records: All records, images, and data points captured by the VPD ALPR system (including fixed cameras and mobile units) that reference or identify the following California license plate: JJRJR.
This request includes time stamps, location data (GPS coordinates or camera IDs), and associated photographs for every instance this plate was recorded from the time of system installation to the present date.
Redactions and Privacy: If the Department contends that any portion of these records is exempt from disclosure, please provide the non-exempt portions pursuant to Gov. Code § 7922.525. If any portion of the request is denied, please provide a written response citing the specific legal authority for the denial within the ten (10) days required by statute.
Request for Digital Format: Please provide these records in electronic format. If the records exist in a searchable database or spreadsheet (such as CSV or Excel), I request they be provided in that native format.
Thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Jimmie Joe Reeves Visalia, CA
That license plate request is for my own car, and I’m interested how many times the system has seen me while I’m running around town. From what I understand of their operational rules, they should have no images older than 30 days. We’ll see if I get anything, or get buried with data files.
Random thoughts, occasional rants, illuminating commentary, and an odd story now and then from the world of 9-1-1 dispatching. All this and more from a gay liberal atheist living in California’s Bible belt. I recently married, so MAGA beware! I’m your worst nightmare! Some names have been omitted to protect the innocent, but the guilty will be hung out to dry!
The Final Flock – and the answer is: “NO”
August 3, 2026
Jim Reeves commentary, News, Personal ai, ALPR, Flock Camera, Flock License Plate Reader, license plate readers, News, politics, technology, visalia, visalia police department, VPD Leave a comment
It started April 24, 2026. I filed a public records request for information on the Flock Automated License Plate Reader system the City of Visalia was utilizing. Today, August 3, 2026, I got the final response. Basically, “NO”. The only thing they sent me that was not readily available on the Visalia Police Department Flock Transparency page was a list of “audits”, reporting which agencies had access to Visalia’s Flock network. It was in the tens of thousands of PDF pages. What that revealed is a whole blog post in itself, perhaps at a later date. (I did not see any evidence in those pages of any non-California agencies accessing Visalia Police Department’s database, such as ICE or Homeland Security. There’s a loop-hole about that, however.)
The only thing they were willing to tell me about my vehicle being identified, cataloged, and stored in the Flock database was that they didn’t have any record of Visalia PD checking for my plate. I suppose that’s good. Of course, it doesn’t mean that they haven’t, after my request.
Here are the blog posts I’ve made during this investigation:
So they’ve decided “…data is exempt from public disclosure under the public records act balancing test because the public interest in preventing disclosure clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure…” and “Visalia PD’s policy “Because such data may contain confidential information, it is not open to public view.” (Policy 428.2.)”
They took 14 weeks to determine they wouldn’t give me data on myself. Due diligence, or deliberate delay?
This story is not over.
Image by Gemini AI
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