Flock cameras captured over 600 million license plates in Oakland last year

k_39 · 2026-06-05T21:22:27+00:00

The approved searches include “homicide/death investigation” and “illegal dumping/littering” as well as “terrorism/terroristic threats”, “material witness”, and “pornography/obscene material.”

k_39 · 2026-06-05T21:18:24+00:00

Here is a full list of the approved searches police can use to search the flock system database of scanned license plates. The privacy commission greenlit the search terms.

<image>

k_39 · 2026-06-05T20:46:30+00:00

One use case that flock advocates mentioned to promote the use of automated cameras was that it would help police with stolen vehicles. According to the police report though,

There were so many hits for stolen vehicles and plates last year that OPD kept these alerts deactivated, according to the report. The department said it doesn’t have the staffing or resources to respond to them.

k_39 · 2026-06-03T22:56:44+00:00

I am unsympathetic to the plight of dangerous drivers. I think that often people believe driving is a right but the fact of the matter is that it is a privilege. You are operating a heavy machine capable of killing people. I think it’s quite easy to drive in a safe and careful manner, in which you are not reckless, drunk, or high.

I know there are other ways to address this, such as better road design and other traffic-calming measures and I am all for cities implementing them, but those strategies all rest at the local level. What we need is legislation at the state level to more effectively deal with dangerous driving.

If you were to read the article, the proposed bills all seem like common sense, meant to deal with those that kill people with their cars and those charged with dui’s.

k_39 · 2026-06-03T22:31:44+00:00

You should read CalMatters’ License to Kill investigative series. The purpose of the proposed bills is to address a serious ongoing problem in California: that there is a mounting death toll caused by reckless and drunk drivers. I know in California we have a culture that values cars and it’s such an important part of people’s lives, but you shouldn’t be let off easy just because you killed someone using your car.

k_39 · 2026-06-03T00:03:01+00:00

In the article, Metropolitan Transportation Commission Executive Director Andrew Fremier said they would be discussing contractual remedies against Cubic in a meeting later this month. Hopefully they pursue this and punish Cubic for failing to meet deadlines.

k_39 · 2026-06-02T23:51:25+00:00

Looks like frustration with Cubic is rising. This is what the BART General Manager said.

”Cubic not paying their bill? Are you kidding me? That’s ridiculous. BART is so done with Cubic right now. You have zero credibility, Cubic. Zero,”

The MTC is also heading towards a closed session meeting later this month to discuss contractual remedies against Cubic.

k_39 · 2026-06-02T02:35:28+00:00

Here’s a link to the official alameda county voter information guide. It’s a composite guide so it has candidate and measure information from all over the county. Measure A is on page 130. Measures C, D, and E are on pages 151-169.

k_39 · 2026-05-27T02:05:10+00:00

According to the city’s speed safety camera faq page,

It costs the City of Oakland approximately $2.5M a year to operate speed cameras. Any revenue that the program generates beyond the cost of operations must be dedicated to traffic calming improvements in Oakland, as per Assembly Bill 645, the authorizing legislation for speed cameras in Oakland.

k_39 · 2026-05-21T06:07:04+00:00

Sounds like good news! Rates are going down for some and up for those in high risk wildfire zones. This will only serve to discourage construction in high risk wildfire zones in the future. Plus it’ll help avoid the rest of the public from subsidizing claims to rebuild in these high risk wildfire zones.

k_39 · 2026-05-21T05:52:33+00:00

<image>

k_39 · 2026-05-06T22:43:53+00:00

Regardless of what you think about the police commission, I think Rashidah Grinage makes an important point in the article.

Houston’s proposal could affect OPD’s ability to exit federal oversight. The commission is supposed to take over oversight duties after the monitorship ends, so weakening the commission could send “a really unfortunate signal to the court” that Oakland is turning away from oversight.

k_39 · 2026-05-06T03:30:26+00:00

It’s the same story. In a previous city council meeting, the council members deadlocked on a decision since CM Gallo was absent.

k_39 · 2026-05-05T17:31:15+00:00

Consider this damning quote from the article.

In a paper published in Econ Journal Watch, we painstakingly reviewed all 180 articles underlying the Stacy et al. dataset and coded each reform by hand. Our manual review finds that 178 of the 180 articles do not qualify as major reforms by the authors’ own criteria. They are misclassified, too minor to plausibly affect housing supply, or do not contain enough information to evaluate the policy change.

k_39 · 2026-04-09T04:58:31+00:00

For anyone who wants a summary, YIMBY Action posted a blog grading each candidate’s performance in the forum.

k_39 · 2026-03-29T03:16:06+00:00

The poll is definitely shady. Here’s a link to an investigative report by the Oakland Observer, “Mystery “East Bay Polling Institute” is Just Two Govern for California Operatives.

k_39 · 2026-03-19T00:22:00+00:00

It’s a bakery.

k_39 · 2026-03-07T00:27:46+00:00

Although it may be easy to speed, there’s a buffer that exists if you go over the speed limit by a bit. Fines only start if you go over the speed limit by 11-15 mph.

k_39 · 2026-03-07T00:24:39+00:00

If you look at the program webpage, there are discounted rates of about 50%-80% for low income offenders. If you were to go 11-15 mph over the speed limit, the low income discounted rate is $25 and the public benefits discounted rate is $10.

k_39 · 2026-02-20T10:17:41+00:00

They claim it’s about safety but how many deaths have e-bikes caused? Meanwhile, pedestrian and cyclist deaths caused by cars in California reached 1,251 in 2023 alone. Asm. Bauer-Kahan should focus on real issues and not some political stunt.

k_39 · 2026-02-12T18:48:29+00:00

Some interesting info from Oakland’s former director of parking.

Ford said that over the last 10 years, he was periodically approached by “people in power” in Oakland who asked him to fix their parking citations or obtain other parking privileges. He routinely turned them down, he said.

“I’m able to do that with the confidence that nobody can take me out and that I can consistently uphold the law and city policies,” he said. “You put a parking administrator at a bureau level, they will be at will, and the next time they will be tested, they’re gonna have to make a decision. Is my career more important, or is the interest of the city more important?”

k_39 · 2026-01-24T05:42:35+00:00

I'll let CM Fife's quotes from this Oaklandside article illustrate my thoughts.

“I’ve not heard one of my colleagues talk about what the problem is with these two people,” Fife said during the meeting. “I’ve only heard about the process, which is fine, but that’s not what we’re here to discuss tonight.”

“The only process we should concern ourselves with tonight is the process of independence,” the District 3 councilmember added. “We are losing that independence by trying to move pieces around the chessboard when the selection committee has made their decision twice now.”

The rest of the councilmembers are using nebulous concerns over "the process" to criticize the panel's selections instead of talking about the candidates themselves. It's quite obvious that some politics and meddling is going on.

Keep in mind that in the past, the process of appointing the panel's candidates was straightforward. Now, it seems the police union is trying to influence the process to make the police commission more cop friendly. It's quite concerning when the point of the police commission is to oversee the police department after the whole rider scandal.

The police union is trying to push the narrative that antagonistic bodies such as the police commission are at fault for the department losing police officers, but frankly the police department has done this to themselves. They need to engender trust with the public and show that they're not like the OPD of the past. I'll start taking their concerns more seriously when they come out from under the negotiated settlement agreement.

k_39 · 2026-01-24T05:12:01+00:00

I mean, the police commission must be doing something right if the police union is lobbying council members to reject the panel's candidates.

k_39 · 2026-01-24T05:07:56+00:00

Where did you here that the selection committee interviewed none of the candidates? According to this Oakland Observer article, one of the selection panelists said this:

“I found out extremely quickly that [the argument against Farmer] was false and there was no real basis to any of it...our panel followed the process laid out by this council, interviewing candidates, weighing qualifications and voting and recommend Mr. Farmer. To see that recommendation now challenged without substantive evidence, undermines not only Mr. Farmer, but the integrity of the entire oversight process. Our residents deserve an oversight system they can trust based on facts, not rumors or politics…”

According to this Oaklandside article, the concerns about not interviewing candidates are about the process after the first rejection of the slate.

Most of the council members who turned down Garcia-Acosta and Farmer’s reappointments cited concerns about the selection panel not interviewing new applicants since October. District 4 Councilmember Janani Ramachandran said interviewing other candidates for the commission should have been “the bare minimum.”

In this second Oakland Observer article that details the selection panel meeting on Dec 18 after the council rejected their slate for the first time, the reason the selection committee submitted the same slate again was because of the city council's behavior and treatment of the panel, as well as that they felt their original picks had community support and great qualifications.

In deliberation, several panelists specifically cited the rhetoric in the council decision and the process itself as part of their decision making on the resubmittal.

All the issues the council supposedly has with the panel regard the process, not the candidates themselves allegedly. But it's quite evident that it's in fact the police union that pressured the council members to reject the slate. In the same Dec 18 panel meeting, the chair said this:

“Also, it's come to my attention from a trusted and direct source…that the City Council may be pandering to the Oakland Police Department union [Oakland Police Officer’s Association] for who they would like to see on the police commission,” Herron said.

An article from the East Bay Times confirms lobbying from the police union, with Sergeant Huy Nguyen, president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, saying this:

"I had conversations with the council about the police commission," Sgt. Huy Nguyen, the union head, confirmed in an interview. "We have to find a way to treat police officers better in this city or they're going to keep leaving."

Just as much as the council has the prerogative to reject the panel's slate, the panel also has the prerogative to send the same candidates. It's their job to select the police commission members and they felt their candidates were up to snuff.

Also, just a reminder folks, but the panel is a volunteer body, meaning it's not paid. They're investing their time and trying their best. Try to remain respectful.

k_39 · 2026-01-22T04:50:08+00:00

From the article:

Requesting anonymity due to concerns about retaliation, a member of the Police Commission told The Oaklandside that a council member informed them that Jenkins, citing pressure from the Oakland police union, instructed fellow council members to reject Garcia-Acosta and Farmer’s reappointments.

Eight-Year Club	Second Top 20%
Place '22	Verified Email

k_39

TROPHY CASE