Cal Poly is using controversial surveillance cameras. A student wants them gone
A Cal Poly student is urging the university to remove a certain brand of surveillance camera from its campus, citing concerns about data privacy and system vulnerabilities.
Tobias Halpern, a freshman business administration student, started a Change.org petition on Jan. 17, calling on Cal Poly to remove Flock Safety cameras from campus.
He described the university’s use of the cameras as a “breach of trust” in the Cal Poly community.
“They’re being tracked from the very moment they step foot on campus, without a warrant, without due process, without again, without any suspicion, even,” he told The Tribune. “ ... To me, that feels like a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”
Flock Safety provides automatic license plate readers and other surveillance equipment to thousands of law enforcement agencies around the nation — including the Cal Poly Police Department.
While Flock says its cameras and their data are “community-controlled,” contracts with Flock have been contested across California and the nation due to allegations of nonconsensual data-sharing with outside law enforcement, the potential for data to be weaponized against immigrant communities and general surveillance concerns.
Halpern cited many of these same concerns in his petition and said he worries about surveillance culture infringing upon the rights and freedoms of students.
The petition had received 287 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.
Flock Safety cameras contested at Cal Poly
Halpern told The Tribune in January that he first learned there were Flock cameras on campus when he saw and recognized them.
“I was kind of disgusted, honestly,” he said.
He decided to launch a petition to remove the cameras because he wanted his activism to have an impact at the local level.
“It’s the kind of change that has to come locally, and it has to start from a very small place ... throughout the country, really,” he said.
In the petition, Halpern cites concerns about outside law enforcement accessing data from Cal Poly, nodding to cases from elsewhere in California where law enforcement agencies have illegally provided data from automatic license plate readers to federal immigration agencies.
“Cal Poly argues that data is only shared on a “case by case” basis, and that data is never shared with ICE without a court order (because that would be illegal), but police departments across the state said the same thing, and it turned out they were lying,” his petition read. “This raises significant concerns about the overreach of surveillance and the potential targeting of marginalized communities on campus.”
The petition described the cameras as “unwarranted surveillance” of those who come and go from campus.
Halpern also cited concerns about the expenses associated with the cameras, and the system’s vulnerability to hacking.
“Call upon the Cal Poly administration to prioritize the safety, security, and rights of its students over the interests of an external surveillance company,” Halpern wrote in the petition. “Demand the removal of Flock Safety’s systems and prevent further harm.”
Halpern had not yet brought the petition to administration as of Jan. 22, but said he planned to.
He and other advocates were also hanging flyers on campus and in SLO to draw attention to the petition.
Flock cameras spark controversy in CA communities
The concerns about Flock cameras aren’t isolated to Cal Poly — in fact, the company has recently seen a wave of scrutiny in cities across California.
In January, the city of Mountain View alleged that federal and state law enforcement agencies accessed data captured by the city’s Flock cameras without permission, ABC 7 reported.
According to the report, police discovered that the cameras were not operating within the parameters set by the city, allowing law enforcement agencies around California to access data from all but one of Mountain View’s cameras.
Meanwhile, officials in Los Altos Hills decided in January to remove 31 Flock cameras due to privacy concerns, the Los Altos Town Crier reported. The city of Santa Cruz also recently cut its contract with the surveillance camera company, the Santa Cruz Local reported in January.
And as of Jan. 30, Santa Clara County officials were reconsidering their use of Flock cameras, according to the San Jose Spotlight.
Meanwhile, last June, CalMatters reported that law enforcement across Southern California had illegally shared data with immigration enforcement agencies, with agencies reportedly conducting searches in the system on behalf of ICE and Border Patrol.
A 2015 California law prohibits public agencies from sharing data with out-of-state agencies and federal law enforcement.
On its privacy and ethics page, Flock maintains that its customers control their own data.
The company also denies that it works with “any sub-agency of the Department of Homeland Security,” including ICE, and claims “backdoor access” doesn’t exist within its systems.
Cal Poly says camera data is owned, controlled by university
Cal Poly spokesperson Keegan Koberl confirmed in an email that the university has 10 Flock cameras stationed at campus entrances and exits. He said the cameras are one example of how the Cal Poly Police Department is trying to enhance campus security.
According to Koberl, the cameras on campus collect vehicle information, including license plates, color, make and model, as well as timestamps and locations indicating when and where a car was seen going in or out of campus.
“The system does not use facial recognition,” Koberl added.
Koberl said access to the information captured by the Flock cameras can only be accessed by campus police, and that the data is owned by the university, not Flock.
“CPPD shares information with other law enforcement agencies only by request, upon a case-by-case basis, and only with approval of Cal Poly’s chief of police,” Koberl wrote. “Additionally, by California state law and CSU policy, CPPD does not and will not share information with immigration officials unless required by a court order.”
Under a 2015 law, California agencies are prohibited from sharing data from automatic license plate readers with out-of-state law enforcement and federal agencies, according to a 2023 law enforcement memo from the California Department of Justice.
The data captured by Cal Poly’s cameras is stored for 30 days, Koberl said.
When asked if the university would reconsider its relationship with Flock if a petition were brought forward, Koberl responded: “Thanks for the question, but we won’t offer conjecture.”
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