After assurances from city’s police chief, council approves agreement to buy additional Flock technology

The Palm Springs City Council on Thursday voted unanimously to purchase additional surveillance technology from Flock, following assurances from Police Chief Andy Mills that the new agreement will not allow the city’s police data to be shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Palm Springs first contracted with Flock in October 2023, purchasing 15 automated license plate readers. In December 2024, the council expanded that partnership by voting to replace the city’s public safety camera system with Flock cameras at 52 non-residential intersections.

The proposal approved Thursday builds on those previous steps. It authorizes the purchase of Flock Nova crime-analysis software at an additional cost of $280,000, bringing the total contract to as much as $301,000. It also extends the city’s agreement with Flock by one year, now set to end on Oct. 1, 2028.

Police say the system will help solve crimes faster. However, the system has drawn criticism from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union for its use of data by ICE, while also raising broader privacy concerns and allegations that Flock utilizes information from data breaches and hacked data.  

While California law prohibits law enforcement agencies from sharing license plate data with ICE and Border Patrol, several sheriff’s departments in Southern California have been found in violation of that law.

The council initially placed the new agreement on its consent calendar, where routine items are typically approved without discussion. However, the item was pulled for open discussion so Mills could address councilmembers’ questions and public concerns.

Councilmember Grace Garner emphasized the need for transparency, saying items like this should be debated in open session to ensure community awareness.

“All of this new technology is scary for a lot of people,” she said. “It’s scary for me personally to see how quickly we can access this. I really think it’s important that we’re just giving the public an opportunity to really understand.”

Garner also pressed Mills on how the police department prevents unauthorized data sharing by other law-enforcement agencies. Mills said the department audits other agencies’ access to its data weekly and has directly questioned agencies whose explanations for data use seemed insufficient.

Mayor Pro Tem Naomi Soto raised concerns about sections of the contract that appeared to give Flock Safety broader access to city data than current privacy policies allow. She called for amendments to ensure the city’s original Flock policy restrictions were explicitly referenced in the contract.

“I definitely would [want the language amended],” Soto said, pointing to a section stating that “the customer hereby grants Flock a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use the customer data.”

“All of this new technology is scary for a lot of people. It’s scary for me personally to see how quickly we can access this. I really think it’s important that we’re just giving the public an opportunity to really understand.”

— Councilmember Grace Garner

City Attorney Jeff Ballinger noted that the amended contract remains subject to the city’s existing privacy policies under the earlier Flock agreement. The council approved the new agreement with a request that the language be clarified to reflect that requirement.

Mills said the Nova system is “an operating system, not additional surveillance,” explaining that it uses information from existing cameras and equipment, combined with publicly available criminal-justice and open-source data, to help identify suspects.

“So what would have taken us, minimally, hours—normally, days—to accomplish, we’ll have at our fingertips,” he said. “Hopefully we can use that information to identify people within minutes.”

He stressed that the city’s data “will not ever go to ICE for the purpose of immigration enforcement.” The police department allows Flock access to its data, he said, but it audits how other agencies use that data and requires explanations for their access.

“If there’s a pattern or practice where they are working with ICE, or they’re stating that they are going to work with ICE, they’re out of our system,” Mills said.

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