Nothing To See Here

A running, sourced timeline of how license-plate readers, body cams and AI policing tools are actually going — and what the failures cost taxpayers.

Timeline / entry

· San Francisco, CA

SFPD let out-of-state agencies run 1.6 million searches of its Flock data, some for ICE

On September 8, 2025, The San Francisco Standard reported, based on records it obtained, that out-of-state law enforcement agencies had run more than 1.6 million searches of the San Francisco Police Department’s Flock license plate reader database, including at least 19 searches marked as related to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. California law bars sharing automated license plate reader data with out-of-state agencies for any purpose, and state sanctuary law bars assisting immigration enforcement. The Standard reported that SFPD gave out-of-state agencies direct access between at least August 2024 and February 2025, and that nearly 4,000 out-of-state agencies searched the data. EFF and the ACLU wrote to SFPD that month demanding it stop. A city audit reported in June 2026 found hundreds of additional illegal searches, including improper use by federal agencies.

Also in San Francisco, CA

5 entries over 17 yr 4 mo, oldest first. The gap is the time since the previous one.

  1. San Francisco settles plate-misread gunpoint stop for $495,000
  2. +16 yr 5 moSFPD let out-of-state agencies run 1.6 million searches of its Flock data, some for ICE this entry
  3. +6 monthsClass action says Flock illegally shared Californians' plate data with federal and out-of-state agencies
  4. +4 monthsSFPD audit finds Flock camera data accessed on behalf of federal, out-of-state agencies
  5. +29 daysClass action alleges Motorola and Vigilant illegally shared California license plate data

Sources

  1. SFPD let outside cops search city surveillance data for ICE — The San Francisco Standard, Sep 8, 2025 (sfstandard.com)
  2. EFF, ACLU to SFPD: Stop Illegally Sharing Data With ICE and Anti-Abortion States — Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org)
  3. Audit reveals hundreds of illegal searches of SFPD's license plate reader system — The San Francisco Standard, Jun 18, 2026 (sfstandard.com)
  4. Feds 'improperly' used San Francisco Flock camera surveillance data — Mission Local (missionlocal.org)

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