The Santa Barbara City Council is delaying a decision on whether or not to use a new provider for automated license plate reading cameras.
Until August 23, the city had contracted with Flock Safety, a company that has faced scrutiny over how law enforcement accesses its data.
Flock Safety’s cameras automatically read license plate numbers, and can be used to track where a vehicle was at a specific time.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Santa Barbara Police Chief Kelly Gordon discussed the possibility of contracting with Verkada, a security company that she says stores data differently from Flock.
“ We are trying to balance the need for that investigative tool along with the privacy concerns,” she told the council said.
Gordon said the cameras have been an important tool in cases involving human trafficking.
During the public comment period, many speakers urged the council not to contract with Verkada, and said the technology poses similar risks to Flock cameras — and that they could be used by immigration enforcement.
CalMatters has reported that police officers in California have illegally shared data from automated license plate readers with ICE. However, Gordon said the Santa Barbara Police Department has never shared data from their Flock cameras with any federal agencies.
Most council members supported delaying a decision while the city reconsiders its policy on license plate readers.
“ Whether it's repealed or amended, it needs to be revisited, and the public does deserve the ability to give comments,” said Council Member Wendy Santamaria.
Council Member Kristen Sneddon said she was concerned over privacy issues if the data is leaked or breached.
“When we adopted this policy, it was a different world,” Sneddon said. “We didn't have internment camps. We didn't have blatant unlawful immigration enforcement practices.”
Any change to the policy will likely have to wait for several months, until after the November election.
