Walnut Creek
Walnut Creek already had license plate readers — an older Vigilant Solutions system — before it switched to Flock. This timeline starts where the record gets specific: the 2025 vendor switch that expanded the network, a resident who pushed back on how little notice the public got before the vote, and the camera locations added since.
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City runs an RFQ to replace its aging ALPR system
Walnut Creek PD’s own staff report says the city’s existing Automated License Plate Reader cameras — a Vigilant Solutions system already installed around the city — were “outdated and in need of replacement.” In late 2024 the city conducted a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process to explore options for updating and expanding the existing ALPR system, and staff recommended switching to a new vendor: Flock Safety. We don’t yet have a document giving the Vigilant Solutions system’s own install date, or the RFQ’s exact open/close dates.
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A resident objects before the vote: "barely four business days of notice"
Four days before the Council vote, a Walnut Creek resident emailed the city’s Public Comments address objecting to the expansion. Quoting the staff report’s own line that the new system would increase “coverage through strategic placement at new locations across the city,” they noted no camera locations or counts had been disclosed, and wrote: “I propose that the council revisit this issue at a future meeting AFTER public notice has been physically posted at the proposed new locations of ALPR cameras 30 days in advance of the meeting where such decisions are made.” They contrasted the barely four business days of notice given for a surveillance-network expansion against the city’s own practice of posting notice well in advance for routine matters like street-tree work. The comment supported upgrading existing cameras but not expanding the network without more public input.
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Council approves the switch to Flock — on the consent calendar
Walnut Creek PD asked the Council to authorize the City Manager to enter into a two-year subscription agreement with Flock Safety to replace and expand the City’s existing Vigilant Solutions ALPR cameras with Flock Safety ALPR cameras, for an amount not-to-exceed $161,600 — 22 fixed ALPR cameras in strategic locations plus two existing radar-trailer units equipped with ALPR. Staff told the Council the proposal was reviewed and approved by the City’s Camera Systems Oversight Committee prior to submission to Council. The item passed as part of the consent calendar — no separate discussion or roll-call vote is recorded in the agenda itself, and we haven’t yet obtained a document showing individual votes for this specific item.
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Two more cameras go up at Ygnacio Valley Road and Oakland Boulevard
Walnut Creek PD filed a CEQA Notice of Exemption for two additional Flock cameras — eastbound and westbound at Ygnacio Valley Road @ Oakland Boulevard — installed under the existing Flock contract. The installation consists of a camera and solar panel (to power the camera) mounted to an existing traffic signal pole with no ground disturbance. The filing claims a categorical exemption from further CEQA review as a small structure. This is the only individually documented installation date we have so far — the original 22 fixed cameras’ actual install dates/locations haven’t been published as a list.
Know something we don't?
If you live in or near Walnut Creek 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.