Kensington
Kensington isn’t a city — it’s an unincorporated community bordering El Cerrito, policed by its own small special district, the Kensington Police Protection & Community Services District (KCSD). It has its own separate Flock program, purchased about a year after El Cerrito’s, and its own version of the same story: a 2026 pause triggered by national controversy over out-of-state data access, followed by a findings report that found no problems specific to Kensington itself.
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KCSD Board approves an ALPR policy
The Kensington Community Services District Board approved an Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) policy governing the department’s use of license-plate-reading camera systems, ahead of the Flock purchase that followed later that year.
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Board approves a two-year Flock agreement, $18,250 first year
Interim General Manager David Aranda, on Police Chief Mike Gancasz’s submission, recommended purchasing and entering into a two-year agreement with FLOCK at $18,250 for the first year — an unbudgeted cost the staff report said would not impact the overall police budget. This staff report is preserved as an exhibit inside the May 2026 findings packet cited below — we haven’t yet located a standalone copy of the original December 2024 agenda/minutes.
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Chief Gancasz pauses ALPR for 90 days, citing national controversy
During his monthly report to the Board — not a Board vote — Chief Gancasz explained advantages of the FLOCK system and considering the recent national controversy about use of the system, then announced he was carrying out a 90-day pause to reevaluate the program and reassure the community. This was an administrative decision by the Chief, made unilaterally, not a Board resolution.
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90-day findings report: no Kensington-specific violations found
Chief Gancasz presented the results of the 90-day evaluation. The pause followed reports of unauthorized or improper ALPR data access in other jurisdictions and concern about federal-agency access to ALPR networks generally — the report is explicit that no policy or legal violations associated with the ALPR were identified at Kensington PD itself, before or during the review.
The findings also cited concrete program results: fourteen arrests, two stolen vehicles recovered, six search/arrest warrants, and other cases the department credits to the system. The report explicitly left the reinstatement decision open, describing it as a future determination guided by the review’s results — not something decided at this meeting.
The same packet attaches the Flock Order Form and Master Services Agreement, made out to Kensington PD, as Exhibit A — 5 Falcon cameras, a 24-month initial term, and a $33,250 total contract price for Year 1 ($18,250 upfront plus $15,000/year recurring after).
Note: the signature block on this copy shows unfilled DocuSign merge fields (
\FSSignature1\,\FSDateSigned1\, etc.), so this is the order-form template attached as a program exhibit, not visual proof of the executed, dated signature page itself — treat the pricing/term as accurate to Kensington’s program but the document itself as an unsigned copy. -
No public record found of ALPR being formally reinstated
The district’s own Flock transparency-portal page and homepage still referenced the “ALPR Paused for 90 Days” announcement as of this research, well past the 90-day window the February pause described (which would have run out around mid-May 2026). The most recent posted Board agenda we could find (August 13, 2026) has no ALPR/Flock item on it. We could not confirm from the public record whether the system has since been quietly reactivated, remains paused, or is awaiting a Board item that hasn’t been scheduled yet — treating this as a genuinely open question rather than guessing either way.
Know something we don't?
If you live in or near Kensington 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.