Flocked Up? Humboldt Supervisors Grapple With License Plate Cameras
Supervisor Steve Madrone [Screenshot]
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office’s use of license plate cameras is controversial and the county will develop new policies governing them following a Board of Supervisors discussion that spanned several hours.
The use of Automated License Plate Reader systems came under heavy public fire at the June 2 Board of Supervisors meeting.
The Sheriff’s Office contracts a company called Flock Safety for operation of seven fixed cameras and two mobile ones that photograph license plates on public roadways.
Supervisor Steve Madrone agendized the discussion due to a high level of public concern and his own.
“While we all want our sheriff’s office to have the tools needed to solve crime, public trust requires real oversight, not just promises,” he said, adding that searches logged on the Sheriff’s Office’s Transparency Portal only give “vague one-word reasons.”
“More troubling, all of this data lives on Flock’s private servers and the sheriff has no independent access to the full audit logs,” he continued.
Calling it “the central question,” Madrone asked, “When the data and audit trail are controlled by a private contractor, how can we honestly tell the people of Humboldt that their privacy is protected?”
Humboldt County Sheriff Billy Honsal and Undersheriff Justin Braud
But Sheriff Billy Honsal described the camera system as a law enforcement boost in a rural county with a limited number of deputies.
“What we’re using is technology to help solve crimes after the fact,” he said. “And we’ve had examples of it solving or help solve missing persons cases. We’ve had examples of solving a homicide.”
He added, “We owe our community the best investigative efforts possible and if that’s incorporating technology, we are going to do it.”
During a lengthy public comment period, only two speakers out of dozens supported the cameras.
The many who opposed it disbelieved what Honsal and County Undersheriff Justin Braud were telling them about the camera system’s restricted data bank and license plate-focused scope.
When one speaker said, “I was really fascinated to learn today that we’ve developed a new type of camera that can only record license plates,” there was a lot of laughter in agreement with the sarcasm.
Others said the cameras “spy on the community they serve,” and are “a gross violation of privacy.”
Flock was described as “a Trojan horse coming in and acting like a safety company” whose data storage can be hacked and accessed by “rich people.”
The Amazon company’s cloud service hand in it was noted by several speakers, with one warning of “private companies creating watch lists, blacklists and databases about everyday people like you and me.”
Those who are less paranoid described the cameras as a slippery slope toward loss of privacy in a world where a variety of video recorders are always on watch.
“I worry that this is just another step in which our privacy will continue to shrink,” said one speaker.
Supervisors had mixed opinions, with Madrone strongly opposed to the cameras, Supervisor Rex Bohn in support of them and Supervisor Michelle Bushnell acknowledging both their benefits and the concerns.
Supervisor Natalie Arroyo also nodded to the benefits but said the surveillance aspect “gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
Board Chair Mike Wilson vouched for more controls over the camera system’s use.
A majority of supervisors voted to form an ad hoc committee to review the use of the cameras and bring back proposals for policies or an ordinance controlling them. Bohn voted against it.
Also approved, with Bohn again dissenting, was directing Department of Public Works staff to bring back a policy on use of cameras by private citizens on county rights of ways.
Madrone’s follow-up motion to take the $21,000 a year it costs to maintain the cameras out of the Sheriff’s Office’s budget failed to get a second.
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There’s a whole flock of them watching.
Gas stations, schools, stores, churches, govt buildings, courtroom cameras,doorbell cameras, parks, dope grow cameras, wildlife cameras, road cameras, wildfire cameras…
Those aren’t Flock cameras. Most of those cameras don’t send the images they collect to corporate databases that then share the information with government agencies without a warrant. Americans have numerous constitutional rights to privacy and I’m not willing to surrender my rights so some ninnies can feel “safe.” Even if one of Honsal’s cameras detect a stolen car or such, he admits there’s no one to chase it. Therefore, the next move would be to notify other government agencies about the vehicle and the chase is on. Nevermind that the info might be in error… I’d be super pissed if I was pulled over, screamed at by a adrenaline juiced nutcase with a gun pointed at me, just because a computer read the photo wrong. We aren’t China. Let these companies sell their bullshit products to Beijing.
No need to sell, Beijing already collects all the data from ALL our cameras that were built in their country. (Saving the info for a rainy day)
Actually a lot of those cameras ARE Flock cameras or partnered with them, such as the popular Ring brand doorbell cams.
What is Stevei wanting to hide?
Also, using digital currency such as Venmo and the like is bending over to our corporate overlords. You’re willingly giving them SO MUCH data and sacrificing privacy and autonomy for minor convenience. Cash is pretty convenient too and swinging by the ATM isn’t that big a deal when considering what you are sacrificing.
Why are these radical liberals always trying to protect felons and sexual predators? Why do local leftists care more about the rights of criminals and sexual predators than safe communities and our local families and kids being safe??
I like most sane people in our community strongly support bringing Flock Safety license plate cameras to Humboldt County. These cameras have a proven track record of helping law enforcement quickly identify and apprehend serious criminals.
Just look at the documented cases from 2024–2026:
Flock cameras have assisted in arresting suspects in attempted child kidnappings (like the 43-year-old man in Homestead, FL), child abductions (Quincy, IL), sexual predators (multiple arrests in Taylor, MI and Michigan trafficking rings), and numerous wanted felons across the country. They’ve helped recover kidnapped children and put predators behind bars.
Why is the Board of Supervisors even listening to the community members who are opposing these cameras? By fighting against this technology, they are effectively supporting the criminals — especially the hard drug dealers flooding our county with fentanyl and heroin. Flock cameras would make it much easier for law enforcement to track these dealers’ vehicles and get them off our streets.
This isn’t about “surveillance” — it’s about protecting our kids, our families, and our communities from real threats. The Board should listen to residents who want safer roads and neighborhoods, not those standing in the way of common-sense tools that catch kidnappers, predators, and drug traffickers.
Humboldt deserves better. Approve Flock cameras.
AI Generated List;
Flock Safety license plate recognition (LPR) cameras have proven to be a highly effective tool for law enforcement across the country. These cameras excel at rapidly identifying and tracking vehicles, allowing officers to quickly locate suspects and solve serious crimes.
Here are multiple documented recent cases (primarily 2024–2026) where Flock cameras directly assisted in arrests and apprehensions involving sexual predators, kidnapping suspects, and wanted felons:
Kidnapping & Abduction Cases:
Homestead, FL (2024): A 43-year-old man was arrested for the attempted kidnapping of a 13-year-old girl and aggravated battery after Flock cameras identified and located the suspect vehicle.
Quincy, IL (2025): A woman charged with child abduction was located and arrested with Flock camera assistance.
College Park, GA (2025): A teenager was rescued from a suspected kidnapping at a motel after Flock cameras helped identify the suspect vehicle.
Canton (2025): A parental kidnapping suspect was tracked and arrested, and the child was recovered safely.
Terre Haute, IN: Alleged kidnapper Donald Bracken was arrested with Flock camera support.
Baytown, TX: An armed robbery and kidnapping suspect was located within minutes via real-time Flock alert.
Florence, SC (March 2024): A kidnapping suspect was arrested after a Flock alert assisted patrol response.
Kalamazoo, MI: A suspect who kidnapped a 3-month-old infant was quickly located and arrested.0
Sexual Predators & Child Exploitation Cases:
Taylor, MI (May 2024): Seven potential child predators were arrested in a sting operation supported by Flock traffic cameras.
Michigan (2024): Multiple predators were arrested during an operation that dismantled a human trafficking ring, with Flock cameras playing a key role.
Fairfax, VA (2024): A suspect wanted on child pornography charges was arrested following a Flock LPR alert.
Yuba County, CA: Flock cameras helped identify suspects in multiple sexual assault cases.
Lynnwood, WA (2025): Suspects in child sexual assault cases were arrested with assistance from the Flock system.
Multiple jurisdictions: A predator who followed a 79-year-old woman home was identified via Flock cameras and later sentenced to 8–12 years in prison.
Wanted Felons & Fugitives:
Flock systems have supported dozens of fugitive arrests across the country, including in Palm Springs, CA (over 30 arrests linked to Flock alerts), Yuba County, CA, East Providence, Auburn WA, Clayton MO, and many others. Departments routinely report significant increases in felony apprehensions, including armed robbery, assault, and auto theft cases.
In addition to these successes in protecting children and catching violent offenders, implementing Flock cameras in Humboldt County will make it significantly easier for law enforcement to track and bust hard drug dealers bringing in fentanyl and heroin. Vehicle tracking capability is especially valuable in a large, rural county like ours where drug trafficking networks rely heavily on cars to move deadly narcotics into our communities.
Flock Safety’s proven track record shows these cameras help reduce crime by enabling faster, more efficient investigations while supporting officer safety and community protection. I strongly urge support for bringing this technology to Humboldt County.
No. Good government never comes from more government.
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”
Flock employees use the cameras to spy on children.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/flock-safety-employees-watched-kids-181539475.html
Sorry it is not about protecting the bad apples as it is about protecting our freedoms and liberties . Criminals are just thar and for decades they have been brought to justice without mass surveillance systems that rely on third party platforms to violate our rights as free citizens.
you speak of these camera as a tool to help enforce the law while ignoring the laws they are designed to avoid being followed to ensure our freedoms to ensure far and impartial treatment .
I remember very well back in the 80’s as a child in school learning about the ussr about how the KGB monitored every aspect of visitors lives and those people that disagreed might disagree or with whom the government or those within it did not like and with the use of their mass surveillance Hunt convict blackmail all of those whos actions they did not like.
If these flock or third party agreements and monitoring systems allow governments local state federal , or agencies thereof are not providing a means to gather, access and use data that they themselves are not permitted under the laws that establish and provide the rulers their power over us and our personal protections from them, then i would suggest that any attempt would have to be a crime by the state for conspiring to deny us of our liberties and proceeding with intent to follow through with those plans Providing information that is intended to misrepresent and flat out cause others to lie in order to protect the conspiracy using policies and tools such as NDA contracts that must be signed .
The fact that so many champions of these systems at the local levels stand in front of us and make statements such as there retention policies and data sharing agreements leaving out that they only have control of the data they access and at no time do their policies they put in place govern the data collected . They honestly can say FRS is not used by their departments and will tell you to your face to make you feel better about them, while knowing full well that FRS is part of the data collection and storage process their department has merely opted out of paying for or allowing their employees to access that portion of the data .
their data retention policies sure make a reasonable person think hrmm not so bad they only keep it for a couple of months or years , what they fail to tell you is that policy only applies to the data they retained from the servers , Flock can keep and provide access to all their data for as long as they like, as well as any other agency or company that can access that data. There is nothing to prevent a agency or person with access from making their own copies for back up and accessing it as well .
While i am in support of enforcing laws. I am not in support of allowing laws to be broken to enforce other laws , the rule of law must be equally and evenly applied. If these systems are truly designed to ensure people are brought to justice and not a tool used to deprive people of their rights then why is it that government agencies are the sole users of this ? Why is it that if a person is being charged with committing a crime they can not access these systems to prove they were not even in the location where the crime was permitted . If justice truly is the goal then shouldn’t everyone have access to these systems ? If they there is no need for warrants and operated on the premise that while in public there is no right to privacy then why all the policy restrictions on their use ? Should not we the people be able to access these systems with just as much right as agencies of the government to keep tabs on our leaders ? Or is there something wrong with holding our elected officials accountable and ensuring those whos is to uphold and enforce the law are doing so . I mean if there is nothing to hide and no rights to uphold because it is all information collected in the settings of public space where no one is allowed a second of privacy then give up the IPs so we can all log on i bet with all the people who live to solve who done it and what are those people up to we can with i days have the courts backed up for generations and be building prisons instead of hosing in no time .
For Honsal’s department to use cameras for fight crime is a good idea. BUT, this info will be used by the other state enforcers. Like CARB. They want to charge drivers for how much they drive each year. This is a perfect way to gather the info. We must not allow that to happen.
But Madrone just wants his crime rate to stay high. WTF? Please explain Steve, why do you want to let crime go?
Deflock.org has an app mapping all flock camera locations in the US. It’s free.
In London they had a way of dealing with the unwanted cameras. I don’t condone anyone damaging property. The Government is not our friend. It is a huge machine continuously threatening to run us over and sometimes achieving that.