Vallejo greenlights contract for controversial gunshot detection tech

VALLEJO – The Vallejo City Council approved spending $210,000 to continue using the security company Flock Safety’s gunshot detection technology for another 18 months, despite previous concerns over the company’s sharing data with out of state law enforcement agencies. 

The council voted 4-0 Tuesday night  – with Mayor Andrea Sorce, Vice Mayor Peter Bregenzer and Councilmember Charles Palmares absent – to approve spending $210,000 for 18 months on Flock’s technology, called Raven. The agreement will cover the same four square miles of “high gunshot areas” in Vallejo – a nearly 50-square mile city – as a one-year beta test, according to the city.

Vallejo police had, until September, been using the gunshot detection tech for free for the test period. The new contract with the Atlanta-based company was previously passed by the city’s Surveillance Advisory Board, which recommended the technology’s use despite concerns over its efficacy. 

But the council’s approval of the new contract comes months after the City Council called for clearer guardrails over the program, out of concern for whether Flock’s data would be shared with outside law enforcement agencies without the city’s permission. The members sent the agreement back to the Surveillance Advisory Board, troubled by Flock’s past decisions to share data with federal and out of state law enforcement agencies. 

For months the council and Surveillance Advisory Board asked for hard data to prove the technology’s efficacy, but Flock representatives did not attend Tuesday’s meeting or the board’s November meeting. 

Councilmember Tonia Lediju said she has been concerned about Flock’s ability to securely handle data gathered in the city and hopes to see a strong audit plan brought back to council in February. 

Lediju said that she thinks that the gunshot detection technology is an important tool for monitoring activity in areas with higher rates of gun violence, particularly in North and South Vallejo. She said those communities historically may not call for police assistance. 

“They’re not going to call you, period, for a lot of different reasons,” Lediju said. “I believe it is a good tool. Gun violence is real. We have seen many young people lose their lives and the gang violence is not your typical gang violence. This tool is really important in some of our communities.”

The decision took place as the Oakland City Council voted on Tuesday night to reverse course and revive a $2 million agreement to continue using Flock cameras around the city, despite ongoing privacy concerns. Flock previously had its contract renewal rejected in Oakland in November, when the City Council faced strong opposition from the public. Vallejo has said it will design a tighter policy to control how Flock will use and share any data it collects. In November, the Surveillance Advisory Board approved a new policy for use of the gunshot detection technology and directed its subcommittee to draft a new audit plan for how the Vallejo Police Department uses all Flock products. 

Chief Assistant City Attorney Randy Risner said during the November meeting that because of a staff error, the council had not seen the new contract with the same “guardrail language” as was used in the contract for Flock’s ALPR cameras. He added that the council also did not get a clarification that current state law contains two sections preventing data sharing with federal immigration authorities and with law enforcement agencies outside of California.

 Vallejo police were previously sharing data with federal agencies and agencies outside of California, in apparent violation of that law. Data collected by Flock’s systems is currently held on the company’s website for 30 days and can be accessed from police vehicles and by other California law enforcement agencies. 

During Tuesday’s public comment, resident Daniel Boone decried the rush to get the agreement signed before the end of the year and said the data was not available.

“There’s beta testing. Where’s the data?” Boone asked. “We have had Flock cameras on Mare Island for four or five years. We have never seen one iota of data that one arrest has been made as a result of Flock cameras. Technology is not a panacea for every problem you have. This looks like an 11th hour ‘do it, or you throw the money.’”