Meeting Overview

Date: May 7, 2026 — Special Berkeley City Council meeting on public safety / surveillance. Quorum present: Mayor Adena Ishii and Councilmembers Rashi Kesarwani (D1), Terry Taplin (D2), Igor Tregub (D4), Shoshana O’Keefe (D5), Brent Blackaby (D6), Cecilia Lunaparra (D7), Mark Humbert (D8). Ben Bartlett (D3) absent. The item continued from March 24, 2026. Format: council Q&A, public comment, then deliberations/motions.

Main Agenda Items

• Flock Safety (ALPR) contract and related surveillance procurement: staff and Flock representatives answered technical, contractual and procurement questions; Police Accountability Board (PAB) materials and public comment were considered.
• Community Video Streams (CVS) and fixed cameras: proposal to expand a voluntary camera registry to allow opt‑in remote access by BPD with pre‑connection inspections, signage, published maps and audit trails. Footage access handled on an evidence‑request basis; external agencies may request specific evidence but do not receive broad search rights.
• Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) operations and data sharing: ALPR data retention 30 days; external agency search access restricted to Bay Area/Sacramento agencies that sign agreements to follow state law and Berkeley’s sanctuary policy; immigration-related search reasons prohibited; searches logged and audited.
• Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS/drones): Policy 1303.3 prohibits random surveillance and use at First Amendment assemblies (Policy 428). Chief described drones as restricted to exigent, safety‑critical uses. Councilmember and supplemental proposals sought tighter, narrower emergency‑only language and explicit bans on audio capture.
• Investigative tools and software (Nova): described as a collator of existing data, not a new sensor; STO reporting requirements not applied for that reason.
• Procurement practices: piggybacking clarified as legally allowable when identical products/terms exist; council asked for comparisons to original contracting entities. Staffing and budget: technology framed as a way to reduce overtime pressure, not automatic new hires.
• Public comment: several hours of testimony, overwhelmingly opposed to Flock expansion citing civil‑liberties, sanctuary, security, labor and liability concerns; a smaller pro‑Flock contingent cited investigative value for merchants and case solving.
• Vendor responses: Flock acknowledged past issues, reported configuration changes (disabled certain out‑of‑state/federal sharing for California agencies, added immigration/reproductive‑search filters, new audit features), and indicated willingness to accept contractual prohibitions and consider per‑violation penalties.

Decisions Made

• Use policies adopted (severed from full contract action): Council approved a package of use/governance policies for surveillance technologies as amended by supplemental materials and Councilmember Lunaparra’s UAS amendments. The adopted package included direction not to execute a full Master Services Agreement (MSA) with Flock at this time.
• Procurement direction and temporary ALPR extension: Council referred procurement to the City Manager to run a competitive RFP for UAS, fixed surveillance and investigative software rather than executing the full Flock MSA. The Council authorized a temporary extension of the existing ALPR arrangement for up to 12 months (not‑to‑exceed $200,000) while the RFP proceeds; that extension passed 5–4 (Yes: D1, D2, D5, D6, D8; No: D3, D4, D7, Mayor).
• Additional instructions: staff/legal to return with refined contract penalty options, procurement vehicle language, efficacy and compliance review requirements (to be presented before any extension ends). No full award or long‑term MSA with Flock was approved.