Foster City police say an alert from the city’s Flock Safety license-plate readers today helped them zero in on a vehicle tied to a run of commercial burglaries across the Peninsula, and that quick response from officers on overlapping shifts led to multiple arrests.
According to a Facebook post by the Foster City Police Department, the automated cameras flagged a car linked to several recent commercial break-ins. Officers tracked the vehicle, contacted the occupants and arrested the suspects on burglary-related charges along with numerous outstanding warrants, the department said.
How Officers Say Flock Flagged The Vehicle
“Another Flock Success Story!” the department wrote in the Foster City Police Department update, crediting system alerts with pointing officers to a car that had been linked to multiple commercial burglaries. Both outgoing and incoming shifts jumped on the call, converging on the area before taking the occupants into custody, according to the post.
As of that update, police had not released the suspects’ names or any booking details.
Foster City's ALPR Program
Automated license plate reader FAQ: captured images are stored for 30 days, and any search must be tied to an active investigation and run only by trained, authorized personnel.
The department has previously credited Flock technology with similar arrests across the Peninsula, including a case highlighted by Hoodline.
Why The Technology Is Debated
Flock operates a wide-reaching camera network, and the San Mateo County page on the Flock Safety site lists Foster City among many participating agencies, illustrating how hotlist alerts can follow suspect vehicles across city lines.
At the same time, reporting has shown that federal and out-of-state agencies have accessed some Flock camera networks thousands of times, raising privacy concerns and triggering reviews in other counties, according to Herald Net.
What Happens Next
In this latest case, Foster City police say the suspects were arrested on burglary-related charges and on multiple outstanding warrants, and investigators are continuing to work the file to connect them to specific commercial burglaries across the Peninsula.
The department did not release names or post mugshots in the initial update. Formal charging documents and full booking information typically follow once cases are processed through the jail system. Anyone with information about the break-ins is asked to contact the Foster City Police Department.
For now, the agency is framing the outcome as a mix of fast-moving license plate alerts and coordinated patrol work, with the city’s online ALPR rules remaining the main public guide to how the controversial technology is supposed to be used in Foster City.
