No Mass Surveillance Flock Watch
Work in progress. We're actively filling in dates, quotes, and sources on this timeline — anything marked "Needs source" is a lead we haven't nailed down yet, not a settled fact. The research on this page is AI-assisted: every claim is checked against a cited source, and source material is included wherever possible, but mistakes can still slip through. If you spot an error, email contact@nosurveillancepledge.com and we'll correct it.

Flock Watch

Pinole

Pinole’s contract and installation history aren’t public yet — we haven’t found a council vote, staff report, or purchase order. What we do have is a 2022 public records request that got Pinole PD to confirm, in writing, that it has Flock Safety cameras, and to release a year of records from a separate ALPR system (Vigilant Solutions’ “LEARN” platform) showing hundreds of outside agencies — including the FBI and CBP’s National Targeting Center — with standing access to Pinole’s plate-detection data.

  1. Comms November 1, 2022

    EFF requests Pinole PD's ALPR data-sharing records

    As part of a statewide public-records campaign, Dave Maass of the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a California Public Records Act request asking Pinole PD to identify every outside agency that can access its ALPR (license-plate-reader) data, and every agency that can access Pinole’s own “hot list” alerts — in both directions.

  2. Access November 22, 2022

    Pinole PD confirms it has Flock Safety cameras — and releases a year of Vigilant/LEARN sharing data

    Responding to EFF’s request, Police Lieutenant Matt Avery wrote: our access to the Flock Safety System is limited as we do have Flock Safety cameras and as such we do not have access to the Transparency Portal. That’s the first documented confirmation that Pinole PD operates Flock Safety cameras — but the records actually released that day are almost entirely about a second, separate ALPR system: Vigilant Solutions’ “LEARN” platform. Those records show, for the year ending November 22, 2022: 46 registered LEARN users; 11,718 total “hits” against hotlisted plates (mobile and fixed cameras combined); and 13,179,878 individual plate detections logged across 5 camera systems. A separate 11-page Vigilant agency-sharing report lists hundreds of outside agencies with standing access to Pinole’s detection data, including CBP - NTC (Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A separate Flock-specific sharing export lists dozens more agencies (mostly other Bay Area and Northern California departments) with search or hotlist access to Pinole’s Flock network.

Know something we don't?

If you live in or near Pinole 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.