Danville
Danville, like Lafayette and Orinda, contracts for police services from the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office rather than running its own department — but unlike Lafayette, Danville turns out to have its own separate Flock Safety contract and its own public-records track record, filed under “Danville Police Department” even though the officers answering it are Sheriff’s staff. What follows comes almost entirely from a string of EFF/MuckRock public-records requests stretching back to 2018 — including two that took 18+ months and a fax follow-up to get any answer at all.
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First records request, on the pre-Flock Vigilant system, goes nowhere
EFF’s Dave Maass filed a California Public Records Act request asking Danville PD which agencies it shared Vigilant Solutions ALPR/”hot list” data with, and for 2016–2017 detection and hit counts — the same request format that had already gotten substantive answers from other California departments. On June 20, 2018, the department’s response questioned the legitimacy of the request itself rather than addressing it. MuckRock’s own tracking still lists the request as unresolved (“Fix Required”) — no records were ever released under it.
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Danville signs its Flock Safety contract: 35 cameras, $70,000 a year
Flock Group Inc. and the Town of Danville executed an Order Form for 35 Flock cameras at $70,000 per year, plus separate line items, with a 24-month initial term and 12-month renewal terms running automatically thereafter. The contract itself states the agreement “will become effective when this Order Form is executed by both Parties” — both signatures are dated July 28, 2020. This document only surfaced publicly because EFF/MuckRock requested it under the California Public Records Act (see below) — Danville never published it on its own.
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First Flock-specific records request takes 18 months and a fax to get an answer
EFF’s Dave Maass and Olivia Ali filed a CPRA request asking for Danville’s 30-day Flock plate-scan volume, its watch-list names, and which agencies it shared data with and received data from. The original request went unanswered long enough that a follow-up fax was sent April 15, 2022 — eighteen months after the original filing, with Danville PD finally responding five days later, on April 20, 2022.
Per MuckRock’s tracking of that response: 5,785,887 total plates scanned, 1,871,129 unique plates, 15 named watch lists, 53 agencies receiving Danville’s data, and 41 agencies providing data to Danville. We haven’t yet located the actual response document with that breakdown (only the request/follow-up correspondence) — those specific figures are sourced to MuckRock’s own tracking of the request rather than a document we can self-host and deep-link.
Sources & documents (1)
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A year-two invoice confirms the camera count: 35 fixed units plus a Falcon add-on
A Flock Group invoice billed to the Town of Danville for the 2021–2022 service year itemizes 35 Flock Camera units at $2,000 each ($70,000) plus one Flock Falcon Camera at $2,500, for a $72,500 subtotal, confirming the original 2020 contract’s 35-camera count was still the live deployment a year in, with one additional camera added.
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Second records request: 69 agencies receiving Danville's plate data, 8-month gap before a response
EFF’s Dave Maass filed a broader CPRA request covering 2021–2023 detection/hit counts and full agency-sharing lists. A follow-up letter dated July 3, 2023 shows the request was still open eight months after the November 2, 2022 filing, the same slow-walk pattern as the 2020 request.
Per MuckRock’s tracking of the eventual response: 69 agencies received Danville’s ALPR data (including out-of-state departments like Akron, OH and Houston, TX), 85+ agencies were hotlist-sharing partners, and Danville’s own hotlist data came from Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and San Ramon PD. In a 30-day sample window (June 3–July 3, 2023), the system logged 5,550,764 plate reads and 1,875 hotlist hits, with Flock’s standard ~30–36 day retention.
As with the 2020 request, we have the request/ follow-up correspondence self-hosted but haven’t yet located the actual data-response document behind MuckRock’s summary figures.
Sources & documents (1)
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A resident's own audit request catches an Alabama sheriff's office running 6,076 network searches through Danville
A resident (Syd Jones) requested Danville’s Flock network-audit records for three specific out-of-state agencies flagged as heavy users elsewhere: the Miami-Dade FL Sheriff’s Office, Palos Heights IL PD, and Marshall County AL Sheriff’s Office. Danville PD — through Sheriff’s Office Administrative Lieutenant John Rock — responded within two weeks with the January–February 2025 network audit, redacting plate-specific data but leaving the summary intact: Marshall County, Alabama’s Sheriff’s Office alone ran a single search that swept 6,076 separate agency networks, including Danville’s, in one 24-hour window.
We have the full response letter for that one named agency; the other two agencies named in the original request aren’t independently confirmed in the letter text we have (the detailed breakdown is in a redacted spreadsheet attachment we haven’t parsed) — flagged rather than assumed.
Know something we don't?
If you live in or near Danville and have an update, a correction, or context worth adding — a FOIA response, council document, email, public statement, or just something you noticed or heard about that isn't reflected here — send it to contact@nosurveillancepledge.com with dates and a link or scan where you can, and we'll add it with a source.