On a 4-1 vote last Tuesday, Woodside's Town Council moved to bring in an independent auditor to comb through how federal agencies have been asking for data from the town's network of Flock Safety license-plate cameras. The decision came after residents pressed the council to consider pausing the system, citing reports that Flock data in nearby cities had been tapped without clear authorization. The move puts Woodside in the growing pack of Peninsula towns rethinking how vendor-hosted surveillance tools and outside law enforcement access are supposed to work.
Council Orders Third-Party Review
Council members said the push for a deeper review was sparked by alarming audit results in neighboring cities and by the town's own limited spot checks, which some officials argued were too small to reliably catch any misuse. As reported by the Palo Alto Daily Post, Town Manager Jason Ledbetter told the council that the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office had looked at only 10 of roughly 117,723 external requests. The town's 26 Flock cameras recorded more than 3.1 million plate reads in 2025, which led to two recovered vehicles and four arrests, according to the staff report presented at the meeting, per The Almanac.
Mountain View Leak Sets Off Woodside Alarm Bells
The council's move closely followed revelations that Mountain View's Flock pilot had been searchable under a "national lookup" setting for several months, which allowed out-of-state and federal agencies to run queries and ultimately led that city to shut its cameras off. The Mountain View Voice reported that the access included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. General Services Administration inspector general's office and at least two Air Force bases, details neighbors in Woodside cited during public comment as a reason to tighten local controls.
What Town Hall and Flock Are Saying
Town Manager Jason Ledbetter told the council that Woodside currently allows only the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, Redwood City Police and San Mateo Police to view its Flock data, and that quarterly audits are used to check whether those rules are followed. The town's automated license-plate reader policy and transparency portal spell out those access limits and data-retention rules, according to the Town of Woodside. Flock representatives, speaking to council members, said the out-of-state queries tied to Mountain View occurred during a pilot period and offered to put in writing that Woodside's data-sharing mode is kept off, according to accounts from officials, per The Almanac.
Council Splits, But Audit Marches Ahead
After a sometimes tense discussion, the council voted 4-1 to begin searching for an independent auditor and to ask the Sheriff’s Office to send its audit reports directly to the town. Councilman Dick Brown cast the lone no vote, warning that Woodside could be throwing away a helpful investigative tool over problems that surfaced elsewhere, the Palo Alto Daily Post reported. Supporters of the review argued that a third-party audit could bolster transparency while keeping a system that officials say has helped solve crimes.
Legal Fine Print Around Those Cameras
State law requires local agencies that use automated license-plate readers to adopt written usage and privacy policies and generally prohibits sharing plate data with out-of-state or federal agencies for immigration enforcement. Those rules have fueled recent rounds of audits and vendor scrutiny. Local policy summaries describe how Civil Code provisions and SB 34 limit who can see ALPR data and why written assurances about "local-only" sharing settings have become crucial for Peninsula towns; see Los Altos Hills' ALPR policy for one such breakdown.
Council members directed staff to return with options for an independent audit, possible vendor alternatives and written confirmation from both Flock and the Sheriff that no national or statewide lookup features are turned on. Nearby Mountain View is slated to review its Flock pilot at its City Council meeting next Tuesday, Mountain View Voice reported, and Woodside officials say updates will be posted to the town's transparency portal as their own review moves forward.
