Good afternoon and welcome to the special city council meeting of Tuesday, December 16, 2025.

Before I call roll, I will go over speaker card instructions for this meeting.

If you like to speak on any agenda item, please fill out a speaker's card and return that to a clerk representative before the item is called for discussion.

As the rules of procedure have established, you have two hours, I'm sorry, hour and 30 minutes to sign up from the start of this meeting.

This meeting started at 1.03.

So that time will be 2:30 p.m.

If you're looking to submit an online speaker card, they were due 24 hours before the start of this meeting.

On roll for this meeting, are council member Brown present council member Fife, present, Councilmember Gaio, present, council member Houston, present, Councilmember Ramachandran, present.

Councilmember Unger.

Present.

Councilmember Wong.

Present and Chair Jenkins.

Present.

Showing eight members present at this time.

Before we go through the agenda, do you have any announcements?

Absolutely.

Um there are a number of people out here to speak.

I know everybody is excited about the PFERS conversation, but we are going to run into time issues.

So every speaker will be given one minute.

Um the order of the agenda will be as followed.

Consent followed by flock, followed by rules of procedure, then we'll take the agenda in order after that.

Flock will be first.

Okay.

After consent.

And just a reminder, as you are entering the chambers, you are required to have a seat.

If the chamber is full and there are no seats available, you can go to hearing room one for overflow.

You will be able to view the meeting there.

And if you signed up to speak, you will have time to come back to the chamber to address the council for public comments.

Moving to item four, modifications of the agenda and procedural items.

Seeing that moving to item five, which is the consent calendar starting with item 5.1.

Approval of the draft minutes from the meeting of December 2nd, 2025.

Item 5.2 is a resolution regarding a declaration due to the local aids emergency.

Item 5.4 resolution due to the declaration of a local emergency on homelessness.

Amendments.11, a resolution for Oakland Public Works Sewer Division Cooperative Agreements.

Item 5.12, a resolution regarding the Oakland Business Relief Program.

Item 5.13, an ordinance regarding amending the Oakland Campaign Reform Act.

Item 5.14, a resolution honoring the life of the extraordinary coach John Beam.

Item 5.15, an information report for performance audit of the kids' first children's fund.

Item 5.16 includes multiple pieces of legislation regarding amendments to ordinance number 12187, the salary ordinance.

Item 5.17, a resolution for HDL software LLC, local tax software solution and printing and mailing services.

And a 5.18, an ORSA resolution for the ROBS payment schedule for fiscal years 26 through 27.

Adam 5.19, a resolution awarding a professional services contract to Francisco and Associates.20, a resolution regarding updates to environmentally preferable purchasing policy.

Adam 5.22, a resolution for sustainable fleet transition grants, acceptance, match appropriation and purchases.

Adam 5.23, a resolution regarding the purchasing contract for traffic maintenance materials.

Adam 5.24, a resolution ensuring a competitive market for prowl construction.

Adam 5.25, a resolution for electric bike lending program.

Item 5.26, a resolution for acceptance of funding and technical assistance for Bay Rin Decarbonization Showcase Program.

Adam 5.27, a resolution for MOU between the City of Oakland and the City of San Leandro.

Adam 5.28, a resolution for terms for an exclusive negotiation agreement.

Adam 5.29, a resolution in support of the Bay Area District Zero Emission Building Appliance Rules.

Adam 5.30, a resolution for grant agreements with friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park.

Item 5.31, a resolution for an addendum to affiliation agreement between University of San Francisco and the City of Oakland.32, a resolution for OPD citizens option for public safety grant.

Item 5.33, a resolution for a contract with Bright Research Group and ROCA for training services.

Item 5.34, a resolution for contract amendment with the University of Pennsylvania for ceasefire lifeline evaluation.

Item 5.35, a resolution authorizing the city.

Order in the chamber, item 5.35, a resolution authorizing the Lynn Marine Contract.

Item 5.36, an emergency ordinance for amendments to the Oakland Fire Code.

Just noting that approval of this item, it will be introduced and final passage in the same meeting.

Please make sure that everyone has a seat.

If there are not enough seats, please direct folks to the overflow room.

Any comments on consent?

Seeing none.

Let's go to public speakers.

Oh, come on up, Director.

Let's see, I gotta figure out which number this is.

I'm sorry.

This is in regards to item 5.28 terms for an exclusive negotiating agreement.

Want to thank Council Member Fife.

And then staff just wanted to expand on one of the further resolved clauses that is already in the draft resolution, just as a point of clarification.

And that is with respect to the surplus lands act.

A disposition is exempt from the surplus lands act if the property is subject to a valid legal restriction, which prohibits residential housing, and if that restriction is not imposed by the city.

It must also be true that there's no feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the prohibition on the site.

And in this case, the North Gateway property is encumbered with such a restriction due to the presence of environmental contamination.

And this existing deed restriction can only be lifted by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, DTSC, and only after DTSC approves a plan to remediate the site, and only after that plan is implemented.

And we believe that it would take several years and cost the city at least $120,000 to develop a plan that DTSC might approve.

However, there's no guarantee that DTSC will approve a remediation plan and commit to granting a waiver.

If DTSC did approve a remediation plan, the remediation itself would also be time consuming and costly, but the actual timeline and costs are impossible to predict at this time, and the cost and risk to the city could be significant.

And there's more information about this in an informational report that was provided to the city council on June 7th, 2022.

Thank you.

Anything else from the administration?

Anything else from staff?

Alright, no staff coming up.

Let's go to the public speakers.

As I call your name, please approach the podium in any order.

Please state your name for the record so we can assign you the appropriate amount of time.

As with standard practice, speakers in the chambers will be taken first.

Zoom speakers will be taken immediately after.

Please raise your hand so I can easily identify you if you are on Zoom.

Sanford Forte, Prescott Chair, Kevin Daly, Juan Cannem.

I have you for two items.

Josephine Guzman, I have you for two items.

Jennifer Finley, I have you for four items.

Jack Fleck, Hannah Zuckerman, George Spees.

David Peters, I have you for multiple items.

David Gassman, Colleen Corrigan, Brian Colbertson.

Miss Asada Olabala, I have you for multiple items.

Derek Barnes, David Boatwright, David Boatwright, I have you for looks like two items.

Bob Rehebbi.

Sorry if I said that incorrectly.

Kevin Hester, Javier Gonzalez, Ira Dixon, Blair Beekman, I have you with multiple items.

Isaiah Daniels, Eric Turner, Stanley Cooper, Keith Batcher, Butcher, maybe with curbside trucks, trucking, Miguel Lopez.

Arnell Price, Ralph Cannes, I have you with multiple items.

Mr.

Hazard, I have you with multiple items.

Stephanie Tran.

And Rafini.

I'm sorry I can't read the last name.

It looks like G, maybe or Rafini.

In any order, please begin.

Mr.

Board, I have you with two cards.

So how much time do I get?

Two minutes or one minute.

Two?

Okay.

Uh while item 513 seems to level the spending ground for current office holders, it is imperative to encourage good, strong potential candidates to run and support their debate participation, even if they lack significant funding.

While it doesn't initially result in flashy expensive pamphlets, it can lead to word of mouth support, more practical and positive ideas and less money demonizing the other candidates is what we need.

And then on item uh 528, the Costco item.

Uh, I think it's a great grab and revenue generator.

It sounds like the city's not for it given the comments that were just made.

But um any word on the informational uh meeting we were gonna have.

That's it.

If your name was called and you were in chambers, please approach the podium if you wish to address the council.

To make it quicker.

If you were able, please line up if you're able and just come to the mic.

Council Member Fife.

I just wanted to clarify through the chair to the public, if if I may, because we had our director of economic and workforce development speak, is our staff still here?

Director Cannett.

I think thank you for speaking earlier.

If you could just clarify for the public there, I think there's a misunderstanding of the statement that you made.

I wanted to clarify that Director Cannett spoke in support of the Costco item, and just re-reiterated what was stated at the community and economic development department meeting that we had earlier.

So if you could, without stating the entire frame, can you just summarize what you wanted to state for the public, please?

Yes, the administration is in support of the item, and I was just trying to clarify why the surplus lands act does not apply to this item.

Okay.

Thank you.

And before the public speaker, security, please make sure that everyone has a seat in the chambers.

If not, please direct people to the overflow room.

Again, security, please make sure that everyone in the seat in the chambers has a seat.

If not, direct them to the overflow room.

Thank you.

Please proceed.

Hello, City Council and fellow friends of Oakland.

My name is Javier Gonzalez, and I'm a small business owner in Oakland.

I'm a housing provider in District 5 and District 3, and also a member of the Rental Housing Association.

I also volunteer assisting Spanish speaking housing providers in Oakland, understand and navigate the housing laws.

I want to speak today on the vacant parcel tax.

Regarding the agenda item on the vacant parcel tax, I want to say that I'm encouraged that there's a resolution requiring that the vacant parcel tax independent hearing officer provide statement of facts when rendering his written decision on formal appeals contesting the city fines.

I'd like to ask the finance director, the city administrator, and the city council to also require the SCI Corporation.

The SCI Corporation is the company that writes the initial appeals or responses when Oaklanders receive this vacant parcel tax.

I'd like to ask that they uh carry on this statement of fact.

Just a reminder to those on the black, excuse me, on the back wall.

If you cannot find a seat, you do need to go downstairs to the overflow.

There are a couple seats to my left.

If you can find seating, you cannot stand against the back wall, it is a fire hazard.

Please find a seat or go to the chain.

I mean, go to the overflow room.

You will have ample time to come back up to address the council if you signed up to speak.

One second, Mr.

Beakman.

If you are giving public comment comment, come up towards the middle just to line up to access the mic.

Please proceed, Mr.

Beekman.

Thank you.

Hi, uh Blair Beekman.

Uh I wanted to speak to items uh 5.7, 5.10, 5.24, and 5.33.

Um, for 5.7 that's economic models coming up for the downtown uh Oakland area.

Um we've all suffered from the era of COVID.

Um you're going to be trying new things for the downtown area.

Um I'm really hopeful that by 2027 or so.

We were really talking before the era of COVID about new economic models altogether.

Uh the current mayor of New York is talking about you know free transit service.

Um a system of working where where everything isn't just tax and spend and and we we get services and then we're highly taxed for those services.

We're really developing new, we should come back to the ideas of new economic models uh as we're passing through this COVID era or leaving it.

And for the downtown area, it's got a lot of tech involved.

There's going to be tech involved with these projects.

We have to be open and accountable with that process.

We have to have it as a community process.

Um, you guys are not offering good examples of community work today for tech issues.

I hope we can be learning lessons today.

Item 5.10 is complete streets and 5.24 is uh PROW construction.

These to me are kind of connected, and that there's a real importance in the ideas of there'll be a lot of uh tech tech involved and for the future of our mobility issues and overall complete street issues to have just good policies in place uh for for advocacy for uh you know uh uh pedestrian accessibility for them to be working towards best practices with the tech involved also and same with bicycle people.

Um, good luck we're working on those things in Oakland.

It really is a holistic process in building our good future.

And these are the open good things that we do together.

Um we shouldn't be canceling each other out and and fighting amongst ourselves.

That's I hope we can be working together on this stuff.

And finally, for item 5.33 bright training research.

Um, really nice item.

It's been around going around uh uh council and committee for a while now.

It's um it's like cognitive learning training in some ways, to help with uh violence prevention issues.

And this this kind of item is so needed at this time when we're dealing with so much tech.

When we have been building really good, you know, violent prevention practices, you know, around social services, around macro.

And if we continue those good efforts, I mean we can be really asking federal agencies for continual funding because we're doing these problem these programs so well.

And that's it's a fair ask, and that's building uh you know a community not based on law enforcement.

And I think, believe it or not, the Trump administration will actually respect it.

They respected the work of uh San Francisco and San Jose Mayors on the same subject.

Good luck what we can do as well.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name's Kevin Hester.

Um, born and raised in Oakland, California.

Um I work for a company, McGuire and Hester, founded in Maguire, fire founded in Oakland a hundred years ago next next or this coming year.

Just want to say that 10 years ago, McGuire and Hester embarked on a mentor protege in the city of County of San Francisco with Bruce Giron and Giron Construction at the time.

Bruce was had doing about two to three million dollars worth of work and had about 10 employees.

Ten years later, um Bruce has over 50 employees, and um I don't know the his whole numbers, but I want to say it's somewhere at probably the 40 to 50 million dollars.

McGuire and Hester would like the opportunity to replicate this with Cooper Engineering on a project in the city of Oakland where both of our companies are founded.

We need the city of Oakland to invest in this opportunity for the mentor protege.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Isaiah Daniels.

Okay, yeah.

He was kind of tall.

Hello, my name is Isaiah Daniels, and I'm a superintendent for Cooper Construction and Engineering.

I'm presently working here in West Oakland over on the WASP program, um, some of the neighborhoods in that area on the west side.

And so I also were in favor of McGuire and Hester getting this contract.

We've been working alongside of them, doing city sidewalks.

Um, they not only had an open door for us, but once we walk through that door as a small Oakland raised company, as we walk through that door, they were welcoming, assisted us in everything that we needed, and we're looking forward to continuing this relationship that we have with them.

I know we have a lot of don't have a lot of time, so I'm gonna cut mine short here.

Thank you.

Uh good afternoon.

My name is Eric Turner.

I'm a local apprentice from Oakland, born and raised.

Um I'm also in favor of McGuire and Hester getting the contract for the 27th Street Improvement.

Uh Cooper Construction gives us opportunity, uh, gives opportunity to people like myself uh to grow and to learn different trades within the within the construction.

Uh this contract will help a local uh construction company grow and hire more residents like myself.

My name is Ira Dixon.

I am born and raised here in Oakland, California.

Um I'm an apprentice with the local 300, and I am for Maguire and Hester retaining the 27th Street contract.

I just want to speak about the kindness that Mr.

Cooper and his business offered to me when I was fresh out of school and trying to attain an apprenticeship.

Um, you know, I called around for too many different companies, and none of them were willing to give me the chance to work with them.

And then I met Mr.

Cooper, he gave me that chance.

I kindly appreciate it.

Um Cooper Engineering are important because they give people who are overlooked the chance to succeed and further their career.

Thank you.

Uh, good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Stephanie Tran.

I'm a resident of Oakland, also born and raised here.

I want to express a little bit of my disappointment that the city is not supporting more local and minority-owned business.

I'm sorry, I mentioned item 5.11.

Um, Oakland has many skilled and qualified people from Oakland, like everyone here with Cooper Construction and Engineering that is ready to do this work and yet they were overlooked.

When city contracts bypass local workers and minority-owned business, we miss an opportunity to invest our public dollars back into our communities and our people and to advance equity in a real and measurable way.

Supporting local contracting should not just be a talking point, it should be reflected in outcomes.

So I urge the city to do better.

Let's strengthen our accountability and outreach and contracting practices so Oakland-based and minority-owned businesses are prioritized and involved in the bidding process.

Hi, good afternoon.

My name is Keith Butler with a curved side truck in LLC, a district three LBE.

Testing.

So the chair, you have your hand covering the tip of the mic, so just pull the mic up and speak into the mic.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Keith Butler with Curbside Trucking LLC.

LB right here in Oakland.

I support McGuire and Hester being awarded this contract based upon their commitment to work with Oakland LBEs.

Sometimes it's not about the lowest bid and the lowest number.

It's about what's good for the community.

Yeah.

Excuse me.

So in saying that, I support McGuire and Hester.

They've been working with me on a couple of projects here in Oakland.

Wouldn't it be good for the community to build up the community?

So let's work together.

Let's build Oakland together.

Let's do something impactful.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Rifia Louis, and I'm yielding my time to Stanley Cooper for item 510.

Through the chair before you go, there's no seating time during the consent calendar.

So you can't give away your minute.

There you go.

Thank you so much.

Um, that I'm also in support of the city investing in the community.

It's actually why I came out to speak on another item today.

And so I'm very much in support of Mr.

Stanley Cooper and his team being invested in by the city that they live in.

Thank you.

Okay, hello uh city council members.

My name is Stanley Cooper, the owner of Cooper Construction Engineering.

And like you heard from everybody, um, we are we really want to invest in the community.

Um I personally uh want to thank this uh city council and their staff.

I'm in favor of McGuire and Hester getting the contract for 27th Street.

What we'll do is would allow companies like myself and others, I have a mentor protege already set in place.

Um, so I can learn a lot from a company that's been here for over 100 years, and I applaud them for that.

Um, according to Alameda County Grand Jury, the SLBE and the LBE has not been utilized.

It's been over 10 years since a mentor protege has been used.

This will help local companies like myself grow.

I have a strong presence.

I'm a member of NAMAC and a lot of others.

Um, and so I really hope that.

Hi, uh, my name is Bob Raheby.

I'm the Reg Construction Company.

Uh just want to clarify that the mentor protege uh program was not established by McGuire and Hester.

And uh Cooper Engineering, they needed to meet 30% requirement participation by Cooper Engineering.

They did not.

They were at 15 and a half percent.

One and a half uh one and a half million short of what would be considered a mentor protege.

Our price was 10,418,000, and McGuire and Hester's was 11,368,000.

That's a million dollar difference that the city would be paying to go to McGuire and Hester.

Regvik is an Oakland firm located in Oakland since 2012.

I urge the city to take the million dollars and give it to all the advocates that are sitting behind me that are desperately looking for funding, you know, instead of giving it to another company that's actually uh a large company or um like McGuire and Hester.

Hello, I'm speaking about um item 530.

Um, good afternoon, council members.

My name is Miguel Lopez.

I'm the executive director of Peralta Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, and I'm here to uh I'm here in strong support of uh this resolution.

At Peralta Hacienda, our work is about creating real opportunities for young people who are often overlooked through paid internships, environmental stewardship, history, and cultural education and leadership development.

We help youth build job skills, confidence, and a sense of direction.

Many of our teens enter our programs unsure of themselves, and over time they become mentors, educators, and community leaders.

These opportunities extend beyond youth alone.

Our park connects families to food through a weekly distribution, serving over 150 households, and it brings the community together through cultural celebrations and communities and volunteer stewardship that keep our six-acre public space safe and cared for.

This funding sustains pathways for young people to learn, earn, and lead while preserving a historic and cultural site that belongs to all Oaklanders.

Thank you for continuing to invest in this opportunity of equity and the future for our youth.

Good afternoon, council members.

I'm speaking for item 530.

My name is Angel, my name is Unnail, and I'm and this is my first time being involved with Paratza Hacienda.

I started in the Waterkeepers program this past September.

Before joining, I haven't really done much work like this, but I've really enjoyed learning about guarding and taking care of the park.

Being part of this program has helped help me see things differently.

Spending time outside, working with my hands and learning how the park is cared for has made me think more about my community and my future.

It also helped me realize that I want to keep being involved and continue learning new things.

The staff have been really supportive to me and others from the beginning.

They care about me and take the time to guide me and help me figure out my next steps through this program.

And I hope you continue supporting.

Please let them continue.

Excuse me.

Did you have anything else to say?

My bad.

Um I'm grateful for the opportunity to be part of Parenta, Hassanda, and I hope you continue supporting programs that help young people like me grow and find direction to stay in the right path.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming to City Council.

Please don't make it to your last time.

Uh hi, my name is Jesse Rosemar.

Thank you.

I uh multiple cards.

Um, I figured uh Kevin Jenkins made us all take a day off work so we could uh try to beg you all to protect our communities from ice and the Trump administration.

So you have a lot of rat really crazy stuff on this consent calendar.

So I'd like to speak to some of those.

Um first of all, the Oakland fire code item 5.36.

Um I actually work with transportation.

I talked to a very uh strong transportation advocate about how troubled they are by a minimum fire length or width of these streets of 26 feet.

Um this is problematic because uh this will keep people from being able to design streets that save the lives of bicyclists and pedestrians.

And what I would like to know is where is the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committees' input on this item?

Why is it nowhere in the agenda packet?

Did they get enough time to review this item?

Because I am noticing a pattern, one in which the privacy advisory committee is fully ignored, and their input on something that will endanger our community to the Trump administration and to ICE and all these things that all of you are looking down and don't seem to care about.

Where's their input on where's the advisory commission's input on that item?

Where's the advisory commission's input on this item?

And how do you expect anybody to join any of these advisory commissions when you continue to ignore them over and over and over and over and over and over and over again?

How do you expect anyone to join any advisory commission when you ignore them when it's something as strong and as important as this?

Our dissent into fascism, our are our communities being vulnerable to ice and all of these things, and I'd also like to speak on this campaign finance reform thing that you got you guys put up in the middle of this consent calendar, too.

We have open ethics violations and multiple Brown Act violations by multiple city council members, and I know you're not paying attention, but whatever.

He's not even in his seat.

Well, guess what?

You've had you've had a lot of people talk about your your blatant foregoing competitive bidding processes, and we know that that someone's hand is in the middle of that.

We're seeing you go overgo these competitive bidding processes when it comes to a corrupt out-of-state vendor that is going to endanger our communities and is leaking their data to ice.

And you are all complicit in this in giving everything to the Trump administration and making our communities vulnerable to violent abductions.

You know what I'm talking about.

I talk to you directly, you're not even looking at me.

You know exactly what I'm talking about.

You made me take the day off work for this to defend our communities.

You need to take responsibility and do that.

You need to defend our communities.

It shouldn't be my responsibility, it's yours.

So where is this?

This is shameful.

Lies, lies, lies over and over and over and over and over and over again.

Why are we?

Thank you for your comments.

Uh Juan Canum, I should have three minutes.

Can you say your name one more time?

Say it one more time.

Uh Juan Canum.

Okay.

I'm Juan Canum.

I'm a deep full resident.

Uh, I'm here because uh, well, I'm here because you made me take a day off work.

Uh you're wasting everyone's time, uh, nobody wants pluck here, but there are two items on the consent agenda you're trying to put through.

One, as the previous speaker mentioned, is uh unnecessarily wide uh roads, make the streets less safe.

Uh the fire department spends more time responding to vehicle crashes than it does to fires.

And while I appreciate the need for like large trucks and their ability to get places, it is also important that we narrow the streets, which means less car crashes, which means more police time to do proactive, not not more fire department time to do proactive um enforcement.

Uh like here we live in the shadow of the ghost town fire, um, or the ghost ship fire, and um previously I lived in London, I lived in the shadow of the Granfeld Tower.

Um, and both those, like literally and figuratively, um both those incidents could have been completely avoided if there was more proactive inspection, especially uh when they're at shitty Landlords.

Um, who don't uh keep that uh premises up to code, and the first you know about it is when the building is literally on fire.

Um so if we free up, if we free up firefighter time, uh by having less traffic accidents, and that would make everyone a lot safer.

Um, also the ridiculous campaign finance reform, uh basically trying to build up personal allegiances rather than uh do things through the city.

If something's important enough to be done, it should be done openly and transparent transparently.

I know Janani that uh is bringing this ironically ran on making City Hall more transparent.

Yeah, these personal fiefdom pockets of uh wallets of money to hand out.

Uh is very like late stage Roman Republic shit.

It's trying to build up your personal brand over the future well-being of the city.

Um, yeah, I think that's what I gotta say.

Thank you.

This is a comment.

Hi, my name's Ian.

Order in the chamber.

Excuse me, order in the chamber.

Hi, my name's Ian.

I'm here to speak in opposition of the flock contract.

Maybe if you're different.

Please pause this time.

We're not on the flock item.

Oh, I was told this was the flock.

This is not the flock item.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Ralph Cannes.

Um, I get three minutes.

Good afternoon, Ralph Cans.

Uh, vacant property tax.

I spoke to previously.

As your earlier speaker noted, there are problems with the vacant property tax.

And these changes are not gonna solve the problems you have with the vacant property tax.

In fact, this is a subsidy for house flippers in this oak in Oakland by automatically eliminating the tax when a house is sold.

The LLC comes in, buys it, and they go in and they start flipping it without permits.

As an example, right now, 2901 seminary has gotten written up, they've got stop work orders, they keep working.

They claim they're doing $8,000 worth of work.

Right now, you go in that house, there's not it's nothing but bare studs.

They've already spent over 8,000, and they keep working even with a stop work order.

There's a whole lot of problems around the vacant property tax and what's going on with house flippers.

Now, regarding the office holder accounts, some previous speakers have mentioned this problem.

There's something missing out of the report from the public ethics commission, and that is in 1998, the Alamade County grand jury said office holder accounts should be eliminated because they create an unfair advantage for incumbent.

Period.

This does nothing, nothing to clean up the mess, it just continues the mess.

And it's a mess that is become every meeting of this council now.

Because of the way you're doing it, like this meeting today, is sleazy.

It's a corrupt process.

And it's gonna lead to a corrupt result.

Because you had to go and schedule a special meeting so you could shorten the noticing requirements for the meeting.

Let me tell you, 25 years ago, there was no consent calendar at the city council.

If there had been a meeting today, it would start at six o'clock.

Every item that was on the agenda at six o'clock would have been previously fully heard in a committee, and it would be fully heard by the city council that night.

Plus, plus they were meeting every Tuesday night.

Not once or twice a month, as in last month, we only met once.

When are you gonna work for the people of Oakland and not for yourselves?

Mr.

Hazard and Derek Barnes, do you wish to you can go to CleanOakland.com and you'll see a lot of vital information.

First of all, why do you keep having cannabis as an emergency item?

The federal government is now reducing cannabis to a schedule three, not a schedule one, but yet you don't do anything with fitnol.

Forty-nine thousand deaths occurred in 24 on fitnol.

And you don't do anything about it.

But to keep cannabis on this agenda, you need to have and you approved Fitney all to be in crisis in June of 2024.

Shame on you.

Also, you have, and the Public Ethics Commission did not support what you have on the agenda, consent calendar, increasing an officeholder account.

Mr.

Kent just told you it's a sham.

When you go in these junkets, but the public never hears the results of those uh those meetings, but you get paid.

So why do you need officeholder account?

You're going to take advantage of candidates when you get dull out to individuals, whatever you want to dole out to.

Also, you got why do you have waiving the small business LBE?

You got six items that you waive that.

Why even have it if you're going to waive it?

I thought the intent of that was for local businesses, but you waive it every time.

Look at it, and then you put it on the consent calendar.

If you're going to waive it, then put it on the non-consent calendar.

Sometimes these things don't even go through committees.

You use 24 or 28 to bypass committees.

Shame on you.

Later, I'm going to speak to what I gave you on item eight regarding rules procedure that I was unceremoniously extricated by the president at the council meeting because I wanted the parliamentarian to give the rules.

You got the rules right here.

Pull the item, pull item number eight, because I'm going to come back and read, and I'm going to give you the case law.

So you don't have any excuse.

Pull the item.

Don't do it because I'll be prepared to take the next legal step.

And the courts will.

And those are the shitty landlords that someone made a comment earlier about.

How?

Because they can make the economics work, revenue minus all expenses.

Any positive gains ideally go into the reserve fund that it's necessary to for unexpected costs that rise when you're managing maintaining older homes.

We already have models that build subsidized housing and provide incentives for developers, the part of the production equation that work works well if there's a political environment to support it.

And as we all know, you know, what you want less of, you tax.

What you want more of, you provide incentives.

And about 80% of our homes in Oakland are over 70 years old.

And it costs a lot to keep them maintained and habitable.

So just keep that in the mind in the back of your mind when you're presenting legislation.

Both private and public nonprofit housing owners are facing very similar situations.

So on item 5.29, many of us share the Sierra Club's desires for cleaner air and healthier communities.

But I'm deeply concerned that a structure without needed resources and time allowances for small businesses could unintentionally undermine the region's already fragile housing ecosystem.

So especially for small owner owner uh operators with buildings that still provide the bulk of our naturally affordable affordable housing in the city.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Again, if you were in chambers and your name was Colin, you wish to address the council, please oppose the podium.

We are now moving to our Zoom speaker, starting with Sanford Forte.

Sanford, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Brian Colbertson, you will be after him.

Yes, uh good afternoon.

My name is Sanford Forte.

This is about public health.

Costco is about public health, toxic environmental impacts, environmental injustice, and West Oakland experiencing some of the highest rates of respiratory illness in California.

Support for Costco at the Army base instead of Cass leaving West Oakland by default supports the continuance of this toxic inheritance.

This time letting cash continue polluting the developing bodies of West Oakland's children, and an increase in pollution in West Oakland due to one hundreds of thousands of additional auto trips monthly over and through West Oakland neighborhoods.

Projections are for an eight hundred and thirty thousand dollar tax uh sales tax take from Costco, which is a mere four hundredths percent of our next budget.

Thus, we're selling out the health of West Oakland's children and others in district three for far less than one percent of our annual budget.

What's a child's life worth in Oakland?

Thank you for your comments, Brian.

You are next.

Kevin Daly, you are after Brian.

Um hi.

Uh my name is Brian Culbertson.

I'm a pedestrian safety advocate with traffic violence rapid response.

I'm speaking on uh 536 uh about the fire code.

Um, and OFD have built a good working relationship over the past three years in the absence of appendix D, um adopting appendix D, which requires wide roads, threatens to upend this positive relationship.

Um traffic safety advocates will be watching very closely to make sure that with the adoption of appendix D and the requirement for wide streets that the agencies of Oak Dot and OFD will continue to work cooperatively, deliver on the shared goal of uh safe streets.

Um projects that have been really useful for this compromise is the International Boulevard Safety Project.

Um, when we added those plastic posts, we went from seven pedestrian deaths in one year to zero.

So we need this working relationship.

Kevin, go ahead and begin your comments.

Yeah, Kevin Daly trench for Oakland fire code 5.36.

I am three areas in the fire code where the legislation needs clarification or fixed errors.

Uh legislation says chapter five, section 503 will be adopted.

Is this California 503 or ICC 503?

If ICC 503 is adopted, how do we resolve the conflict between California Title 24, 3.05, and 503.2.1.

Both sections require 20 foot wide streets.

California allows you to include shoulders.

Lastly, there is a major copyright violation in the legislation.

The full text of appendix D is included.

ICC on copyright, they will not be happy.

They do sue.

It should be removed and only reference.

Reference only should be in.

Thank you for your comments, George Speeze.

You are next after George's Colleen Corrigan.

Hello, I'm George Spees.

I'm a pedestrian safety advocate also with traffic violence rapid response.

Measure U bonds have now secured us a fixed pile of money to improve our streets.

Selection of contractors based on transparent and defined process is especially important on these large projects that run into many millions.

If we want different results, we should amend the process and the requirements.

Until then, council should not interrupt the staff process and only exercise oversight.

We really need to avoid politicizing this process.

Allowing lobbying only encourages corruption, especially after staff has already completed their selection based on the defined process that council has set up.

So let's stick with allowing staff to use defined processes and not change things after the fact.

Thank you.

Colleen, you are next.

Hi there.

My name is Colleen Nolans.

I'm not sure if I'm the correct speaker.

I would like to speak, but I would not like to take the time of the other calling in question.

Okay, I'm sorry, I thought you were that same calling, so I don't have a card for another Carlene.

Colleen, so you will not be able to speak at this time.

Oakland Chamber of Commerce.

Please state your name.

Hi, yes, it's Josephine Guzman.

Go ahead, Ms.

Guzman.

You have two minutes.

Okay, thank you.

Hey everyone.

My name is Josephine Ousmane, Public Policy Manager for the Oakland Chamber.

I'm here just in support of both items 5.12, the Oakland Business Relief Program and item 5.7 establishing the economic activation zones.

Together, these items represent a coordinated approach to economic recovery and growth.

The business relief program lowers the barriers for small and new businesses to open and to invest and stay in Oakland.

At the same time, the economic activation zones create the free foot traffic, vibrancy, and the customer base, those businesses need to succeed.

And these policies just send a clear message that Oakland is working with its business community, embracing the creativity and taking the meaningful steps to be open for business while centering local and small businesses.

The chamber looks forward to continue partnership with the council and the mayor's office to strengthen Oakland's economy and support these vibrant and inclusive neighborhoods.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, Mrs.

Sadi.

You are next.

Please begin your comment.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I'm starting with item 5.6.

Modifying or changing speed limits without enforcement components does not make sense.

5.7.

Economic activation zones need to have a component that activates ending the 9% unemployment of African Americans in the city of Oakland.

5.8.

Amendments would exclude support for African American vendors at Lake Merit.

On 5.10, you have seven safety improvement projects for Lake Merit.

And while some areas of the city, there are no safety improvement projects.

5.12.

You need to stop putting any more taxes on the ballot for property owners.

They are the property owners are outraged with the amount of property taxes they have to pay.

5.16.

You should not pursue hiring a democracy dollars manager for the cost of over 140,000 annually when we need an Oakland works and uh workforce uh manager and we need someone to manage the homeless situation.

5.25.

Who does the enforcement related to e-bikes regulation?

You have no one.

5.26.

You need contracts with the city of Piedmont for related to the use of our libraries.

You've gone over almost 15 years without contracts in place.

The city of Piedmont pays you whatever they want to use our libraries with no contract.

5.27.

Former uh the Oakland Army base is insulting that we are fighting right now to try to get the soil toxic hazard contamination issue at McClyman's to be remediated.

And now you come in up with the army base, can be used for commercial purposes without remediating the hazard and contaminated salt.

That's outrageous.

5.30.

Friends of Peralta Hacienda constantly comes to the city council and you constantly fund them while other commercial and nonprofits don't get the same kind of support.

Uh 5.34 ceasefire.

You're doing ceasefire will not have help the mafia, uh Mexican mafia gangs, the prison gangs, the Asian gangs that you have here in Oakland.

The fire station issue, uh, and on skyline high line, no plan to evacuate those students.

Thank you, Ms.

Olabala.

Moving to David, can you please confirm your last name so I can give you the appropriate amount of time?

David, can you please unmute yourself and say your last name?

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, can you confirm your last name, please?

Uh I said Peters.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Go ahead and begin your comments.

Uh thank you very much.

Um, I just want to give a shout out to all the prior speakers.

Oakland speakers are passionate and informed, and I was reminded that I'm excited about the economic activation zones that are coming online and want to thank council member Brown uh for shepherding that through uh process.

Um then uh, because of my love for people that are from Oakland for real real for really from Oakland, man, Dean has a what is a weed emergency anyway, bruh.

What are we doing?

We got real stuff that we need to talk about, like this amendment, uh, or this ENA principal NA for Costco.

So I'm looking at the report, and I want to point out something in the report for everybody that I'm I'm surprised that there was no pushback from council on.

And so it says, under sustainable opportunities, environmental, no direct environmental impact, and so hundreds of jobs uh to increase the tax city's tax revenue significantly at North Great Way, and you really you think that's really credible that there's no environmental impact from hundreds on thousands of car trips a week and trucks.

This report is deficient, and I'm grievously disappointed that in the wake of OBOT building a cold terminal here that we have not enough to care about the West Falkland community.

Uh, with some corporation corporation comes dancing in front with a couple of dollars, we ready to get sold out.

We did we endure the fires at Schnitzer, we've got a cold terminal coming, we've got an aggregate pile coming, and now you're gonna propose instead of allowing CAF, who which has been we have wanted to move there for decades.

People in this community have been fighting for decades to get that gross polluter from out of their backyard onto that site because that property is now just given away to a millionaire corporation.

Now I'm all for jobs.

I'm off tax revenue.

I'm all for uh all of these things for Oakland.

But why is it that West Oakland always gets the doo-doo and city hall gets the revenues?

So I get why people are excited to have Costco in Oakland.

I'm excited to have Costco in Oakland too, but my mama said it ain't always what you do.

Sometimes it's how you do it.

And this process is not been doing well by the people in West Oakland that have been in this environmental justice fight for us and our neighbors and our mamas and our daddies and our kids for decades.

So where is that report from 2022 that the city council got that talked about the exception uh to the surplus lands act?

Where's the information that the developer was distributing in council chambers last week?

There will be a meeting held in a couple days that any of us who are out of town won't be able to attend.

We haven't seen the presentation, we don't have the information.

Slow down, engage with the community.

No more coal in Oakland, no more gross polluters without community engagement.

Thank you for your comments.

Jennifer Finley, you are next.

I have you with multiple cards for the maximum amount of time.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Jennifer Finley, District 2.

Uh Councilmember Wong, I'm uh watching your votes as well.

Um, been very disappointed thus far.

Um, really disappointed with the council's uh it's despicable, it's absolutely despicable.

There are 36 items on this consent calendar.

36 items.

People get Max three minutes to speak on all of this.

It's one more way that you are trying to bypass public input and public awareness of what council is up to so that you can pass through whatever you like with whatever rules you're making up at the time.

You've got uh local emergency on homelessness, but we are pushing the uh encampment abatement plan.

We're trying to get rid of encampments, doesn't even mention the people.

Business tax relief.

Why are we doing this?

Um campaign reform.

Why are we putting more money into elections and politics?

Do we need more mailers?

Do we need more corruption?

What are we doing here?

Um, I support the Costco ENA.

Um, there's a cops grant on here for uh helicopter, a million dollars of helicopter maintenance nearly.

Uh, what happened to the fixed wing aircrafts and the plan to retire the helicopters because they were too expensive to maintain.

Um the uh the fire code.

I just want to echo what the uh advocate said earlier regarding the width of the streets and the safety.

Um I we need more traffic calming and road diets.

We don't need to be widening streets right now.

That's just bringing up risk.

Um, and because of the timing of this meeting, and because I don't know that I'm going to be able to be here later, I will also ask through the chair why isn't the privacy commission report about the flock cameras in the agenda packet?

We've got 14 attachments on an item that was brought in with almost zero notice because of how you're scared of the rules after it was voted down multiple times after hundreds of people have spoken.

Why isn't the privacy report commission privacy commission report that where they voted down, voted down this recommendation with a number of concerns and a far more detailed discussion than anybody has had a council?

What are you doing here?

Um, this isn't okay.

Council Member Fife, you have been holding it down for us.

You have a fight.

We are with you.

Please stand firm today.

Um, I'll leave it there.

Thank you for your comments, Ms.

Finley.

Moving to our next speaker.

Just gonna confirm uh Ralph Brown.

Did you submit a card?

If so, under what name?

Yes, I did under Ralph Brown, uh, given that this meeting.

Do not have a card for you.

I apologize.

Moving to our next speaker who signed up.

Jack Fleck, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Uh, yes, this is Jack Fleck.

I'm with 350 East Bay, and I just want to thank the council for moving item 529 up to uh resolution today.

And uh I'd just like to encourage all of the council members to read the excellent staff report by Shana Hirschfield Gold that explains why this is consistent with the equitable climate action plan and why it's important for Oakland to pass this.

And also I want to uh just mention that in regard to the concerns about equity that have been expressed by at least one speaker.

Uh, there is a phrase appropriate amendments that would allow appropriate flexibility to ensure equity and business development.

So urge you to vote for uh item 529.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you for your comments.

Mike Marcus Johnson, you are next.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Thank you.

My name is Marcus Johnson.

I have provided uh and sent an email to council members and staff with recommendations about 5.28.

And I'm hoping that the council members and staff will take the time and read the email with the letter that identifies some concerns that I think are worthwhile for uh considering this ENA.

Thank you.

That's it.

Thank you for your comments, Mr.

Johnson.

Colleen Corgan, you are next.

I have you with one card.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Thank you, everyone.

Good afternoon.

My name is Colleen Corgan, and I'm here to comment on item 529.

I work for the Civic Policy Research and Advocacy Organization, Spur, and I'm also an Oakland resident and public health professional.

I want to thank the city council for championing this issue and prioritizing the health safety and sustainability of Oakland for future generations by supporting the Bay Area Air District Rules 9496.

The transition to Zero Knox appliances is projected to avert 15,000 asthma attacks and up to 85 premature deaths annually in California, with a total annual health benefits of up to um nearly 900 million dollars.

You'll hear people in industry opposition like those today say it can't be done or that it's too complicated or difficult, but the evidence in the marketplace and workforce is pointing in the absolute opposite direction and the flexibility amendments discussed last week at the Air District Stationary Source Committee meeting.

We'll provide much needed exemptions for space and electrical constraints as well as low-income residents.

These equity mechanisms will reinforce broader adoption and fair access.

Thank you again for your leadership and spearheading this important work.

So Colleen Nolan, did you have a card under a different name?

No, I did not.

Thank you for your honesty.

Nita, did you submit a speaker card?

If so, under what name?

Um I did not, but I would like you to explain how I can, please.

Please email City Clerk at Oakland C A.gov and we can assist you with speaker card instructions.

Right.

At this time, all names have been called.

Thank you.

Thank you for everybody that came out to speak.

I am happy to say this is one of the first times every single item has gone through committee, with the exception of 5.1, which is the meetings, meeting minutes, 5.2, which is a standard declaration of AIDS academic uh epidemic, 5.3 declaration of cannabis health emergency, and 5.4 the uh local emergency on homelessness.

So every item on the agenda went to committee.

So everyone had an opportunity to comment on every item that was on consent.

So appreciate that.

And noting the amendments with 5.28.

If there are no comments to the from the council members, I'll entertain a motion I think they were closing.

No no amendments other than a motion.

So move council member five I'm I'm I wanted to ask you to clarify what you said about 5.28 for the Costco item.

So I thought there were amendments from the staff but those were not amendments.

That's what I wanted the staff to clear clarify that was not an amendment it was a uh just a reiteration of why there was not um they we didn't need uh surplus lands act exemption for residential construction I I did have some some comments to make I I was hoping that the Department of Transportation staff could uh answer a few questions about um one of the items on consent I'm trying to find the exact number for the uh I think it's item 5.10 regarding a twin 27th street construction if we could have um department of transportation staff answer a few questions is there's someone here from DOT that can respond to the council members' questions guile that was President Pro Tem Guy that was the second is that correct thank you director Rowan.

Thank you um for being here I this this question is specifically about the fiduciary responsibility of the city and what um I'm sure many in the public have seen with an accident that occurred near Hayward California with the company that we are giving a contract awarding a contract through this consent uh calendar and I just wanted to get your feelings around if the the company Regwick has all of the appropriate insurances and um and different things as they were the company that was working in Hayward when the explosion took place and um for I'm not exactly sure of what happened I was just asking for you to give us your confidence in choosing that provider and to let the city council know if there's anything that we should be concerned about with the process that you went through for selecting the the vendor through the chair to the council member I I actually don't I'm I'm presuming you're talking about the gas line explosion in Hayward.

We don't have any details on what's happened there.

I think that's a an active investigation as far as the contract goes with City of Oakland that's that is all vetted during the contract execution process that they provide the necessary bonds they provide the necessary insurance that to meet the the city's requirements.

So is there any urgency to award this contract immediately would it have any impact if we were to wait for that investigation to conclude to ensure that we are making the right choice in the the company that we choose I I would leave that to the the discretion of the city council I I have I have no knowledge of what happened in Hayward and I I don't think it's wise to ascribe fault at this point during an active investigation.

Sir no no I didn't do that I'm asking is there an urgency the question this very specific question that I asked was is there an urgency in this moment to award a contract and wait for the conclusion of this investigation.

There is no urgency there's no urgency correct okay so what what impact would it have on projects in the department of transportation if we were to wait until the conclusion of this investigation to find out what happened there.

You would just see a through the chair, you would just see a delay on this specific project.

And what is the totality and I'm I'm asking chair, I I apologize.

Um, so that we are doing our due diligence and ensuring that I I just see a potential headline after this.

Um, if if there is anything that comes out that could implicate the city of Oakland in this decision, um the the scope of the project would not have any negative impact if we were to potentially wait um to go into contract with this particular vendor.

The through the chair, the the only the only negative impact would be delay, but it's not like this is part of a series of projects.

This is a a complete street safety project, so the the existing conditions as it stands today would just continue.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember, are you inclined to not vote on this right now?

I do believe this is in your district, and I believe as the council member of the district, you should have um priority in saying what we should do.

Is that the will?

Well, and see that's the concern because I also don't want to cause any particular um strain on residents that are expecting a certain timeline.

Um but I that was a major incident, and I want to understand what happened and who was at fault.

Uh that is we will never know, and I'm not saying that the vendor had any responsibility at all, but I'm saying I want to know before I make a decision to give 10 million dollars to an organization when there's there's this investigation that's ongoing.

Um so I would ask that we pull that item for now.

This this is in my district.

Um, I need this this incident just occurred.

I didn't expect it.

So I need a little more time to kind of think about um the direction.

So if we could pull the item um from the consent calendar at the very least, and have a little bit more conversation with the body about how this moves forward.

I want to find out if that's possible through the parliamentary.

The opportunity to move things from consent to non-consent um is under modifications of your agenda, so the time for that has passed, but of course, if it's the will of the body, you could pull this item uh defer it to a another meeting at a later date.

I think I would like to do that.

Council President Jenkins.

Absolutely to the motion and the second, or are you guys okay with that?

Okay, all right.

So noting um 5.10 will be removed and put to the next city council meeting.

Is that January 8th?

6.

Oh, that's early.

All right, Councilmember Houston.

Yeah, mine is just a little bit different, and I heard um the audience, and I don't agree with Mr.

Hazard much, but um about waiving, why are we waving and continually waving the SLBE and the LBE?

Mine is a little bit different.

Um 2001, we came up with the SLBE and LBE 24 years later, and you saw these young men coming up here with opportunities, getting these opportunities from Oakland.

Um, and that's what we need to do.

We need to be embracing these SLBEs and LBEs that's going to give our youth you saw.

They got up there and spoke the opportunity to build a skill set so we don't continue, continue to wave this over and over, and that's my point.

P.

Thank you.

Any more comments from the council members?

Seeing none, we have an emotion and a second as amended.

This noting that the motion now moved by council member Ramachandra and seconded by Pro Tim Gayo to approve the consent calendar and continuing item 5.10 to the next meeting, which will be January 6.

Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Councilmember Fife.

Aye.

Councilmember Gayo.

Wait a minute.

Councilmember Gayo.

Aye.

Okay.

Councilmember Houston, you're in the queue.

Did you need to speak again?

Was that no?

I'll say aye.

Thank you.

Aye.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Aye.

Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion passes as amended with a vote of eight ayes.

Going to.

We are moving out of order.

Going to item nine.

Adopt a resolution approving the Oakland Police Department surveillance use policy.

Section DGO sections one through 32.1.

Community safety camera system and the acquisition of security cameras and related technology awarding a two-year agreement to flock safety for acquisition of automated license plate reader and pen tilt zoom cameras.

Operating system technology and related services at a cost not to exceed 2,252,500 and waiving the competitive multi multiple step solicitation process required for the acquisition of information technology systems and waiving the local and small local business enterprise program requirements.

You have a hundred and forty-two speakers on this item.

Please proceed.

Good afternoon, everyone.

So just a little background on this.

Since then, this system is operated.

The cameras are designed to take photos of the rear of the vehicle and capture that license plate of the vehicle.

The data is retained through the flock safety system for a pro for 30 days.

Originally, the department itself was managing to make sure that did not occur.

The system now is in place where federal agencies or out of state agencies cannot even request to access OPD's data or any department within the state of California.

I don't think my clicker's working.

It does not utilize facial recognition technology on any of its platforms.

The data is not searchable by demographic data.

And then Flock ALPR does not include any personal identifying information.

And then as well, Flock A LPR does not contain or capture DMV data or Oakland police's own record management system data.

So it's not accessing, doesn't have access to any of our reports or people's information that would be connected to a particular vehicle.

Order in the chamber, that is your first warning.

Next warning, you will be axed or you will be removed.

As I said, the system was put into place in July 2024.

There was an annual report that was conducted related to the use of the technology between July 2024 and December 2024.

And Dr.

Beckman from Oka Police is here to discuss that annual report and the information that was contained.

Um Dr.

Carlo Beckman, project manager at the Oakland Police Department.

So the annual report that we did covered the time period of July 2024 through December of 2024.

During that time, there were 188,964,975 license plate reads.

The top five alerts that we had were stolen plates, which came in at just over 187,000.

Non-owned custom hot list alerts, which created uh alerts created by other agencies using Flock and shared with OPD.

That was 28,600.

Stolen vehicle alerts were 23,179, and hits from OPD custom hot lists were 5799 with 2300, over 2300 felony vehicles.

At the time of the report, OPD had shared access with 50 agencies.

Based on crime data and identifying main egress and ingress locations throughout the city, the 290 cameras were originally deployed within their six respective areas as follows.

Area one had 44 cameras, area two had 57, area three had twenty-three, area four had 55, area five had 51, and area six had 60.

OPD conducted an internal audit, a statistically relevant audit of 398 internal historical searches.

99% of those included a report number or incident number, and 97% included the penal or vehicle code as required by our policy.

At that time we had about 246 users who had been trained, and a random statistically valid sample of those 25 users found that all had completed the required training.

At the time of this report, OPD logged a total of 240 enforcement actions based on part of Flock.

Based on these actions, OPD was able to generate 112 leads, 55 were cleared by arrests, 34 were cleared by other means such as vehicle recovery, 31 are at the time in progress investigations and eight warrants were issued.

The summarization of all of these outcomes showed that we made 98 arrests, recovered 32 guns, sorry, recovered 32 vehicles and 29 guns.

And one important thing to note is that we didn't fully release this to the entire department until around January of 2025.

The initial rollout was uh intentionally slowly done throughout the department, starting first with admins, moving to criminal investigation divisions to our specialized units, ceasefire, and our special resource sections, and then once uh we felt we had a good grasp on uh the auditing and controlling the system, we released it to initially supervisors and patrol uh the commanders of uh or watch commanders, and then eventually to patrol officers, and that began in January 2025.

Just an update.

So, since that time or during the entire period, there's been 232 arrests that were uh linked with the ALPR alerts.

Uh 68 firearms were recovered in that time period.

There were 17 arrests that were specific specifically related to homicides, 108 arrests specifically related to robberies, and then 573 uh successful outcomes that were logged through the system, which included 400 uh for 2025 year to date.

One of the uh the main intent of putting the system in was to address specifically robbery series and carjackings.

Uh so we did an analysis related to robbery series as we put the system in place, uh, and then for this year.

So if you looked in 2024, Oakland experienced 14 different robbery series incidents, and these are a series of robberies that include four or more robberies.

Uh, of those robbery incidents that included 172 separate robberies.

Uh of those series, ALPR was utilized uh in 10 of those 14 series.

In eight of those 10 cases, ALPR uh directly contributed to the recovery of suspect vehicles as well as the arrests of uh suspects from those cases.

Uh looking at 2025's data, the number of robbery series dropped from 14 to 6.

Uh the series of six included 46 individual robberies.

Uh, an ALPR played a critical role in all of the investigations related to those series, and five of those investigations led to the identification and arrests of those involved.

Uh the other uh practical use of this system is by agencies that partner with us within the city of Oakland.

Uh the two main agencies that we speak about the most is the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol.

There is a specific unit that's addressing uh stolen vehicles within the city of Oakland and also the rest of the Bay Area.

That's a task force that includes uh Alameda County Sheriff's OPD and CHP.

With utilizing ALPR data, they made 110 separate arrests related to stolen vehicles.

Uh they recovered approximately 1100 vehicles and estimated that a quarter of those vehicles that were recovered unoccupied were as a result of following up on an ALPR alert.

One thing that's important to notice through or from 2024, we had a 42% decrease in stolen vehicles overall within the city of Oakland.

And if you look at compared to 2023, it's a drop from it's a 58% drop where we had 11,986 stolen vehicles in 2023 compared to 2025, where we saw 5,025.

So moving on to the community safety camera system.

Uh so just background on this originally uh I wasn't uh involved in the beginning of the Flock ALPR acquisition.

Uh I was brought in later when we were talking or talking about implementing the system, but then part of that was talking about integrating community cameras from the downtown business bids, and that was uh uh work that had been in progress for probably the last five or six years at least, talking about how we can integrate those systems, how they could best be used, uh, and then the privacy concerns surrounding them.

So the community safety hammer system uh is separate from Flock ALPR.

They both run under the Flock operating system.

I try to compare it to something like a phone.

The phone is the platform and the operating system that runs it, uh, is what allows you to use separate apps uh on that device.

Uh so there's three elements.

There's a community private owned camera or managed devices.

Uh there's department-owned managed devices, and then the integration platform itself that allows those devices to be shared within one system.

Uh related to the community or privately owned devices, uh it requires an affirmative opt-in to share access to historical and real-time data.

Uh, and what's very important to note is that the owner or manager of that device continues to retain ownership over that data.

So that data is not being saved through the flock operating system.

That's being saved by the owner of that device and is basically providing a window for OPD to access that related to specific investigations.

That data is only saved and downloaded if it's determined to be evidence related to a specific investigation.

And then, like I said, with ALPR data, if it's downloaded from this system, it's placed into a separate cloud storage platform consistent with other electronic data.

Participants do not have access to the OPD system or any of the other participants' data.

Only OPD has direct access to the data captured by its devices.

These would be 40 additional pan-tilt zoom cameras that would be placed within the city to basically support or supplement existing camera systems in areas that don't have significant camera infrastructure.

The data is only retained for 30 days unless determined to be evidence, and then we're retained on a separate storage system.

And then unlike Flock ALPR, the data is not searchable by any other agency.

So any camera that belongs to the department itself is only accessed by the department, and any cameras that are sharing into the system would only be accessed by the department.

That's a warning.

The next one you will be removed.

So it's a technology platform allowing for the integration of the community safety camera systems.

That's both the department managed systems and the part or camera systems that are owned by the community.

There's a potential of integrating additional systems in the Flock operating system for a more comprehensive and cohesive approach to addressing crime within the city.

As part of this, we did extensive data analysis related to crime.

The real-time operations center began kind of as a concept at the end of 2023, where we saw a large increase in specific crimes, specifically carjackings and robberies.

As I referred to earlier, we specifically started with homicides.

If you see between 2017 and 2019, we had 75, 75, and 78.

And then we saw a steep increase in 2020 with the highest in 2021, and then a continued similar level of violence with 2022 and then 2023.

And you can see we implemented Flock midway through 2024, and you see a significant drop-off immediately following.

Related to carjackings, this is uh one of the other intended uses for the system.

Uh we saw in 2023 there was 513 carjackings, armed carjackings.

Uh in the first six months of 2024, we were actually averaging 40 carjackings per month.

As soon as the system was turned on in July, we saw a steep drop to 2020 or to 24 carjackings per month.

We've seen that continue in the 2025, where we're averaging 17, and we've seen uh single-digit carjackings in months where we haven't seen that since pre-COVID.

This is year-to-date data.

I try to keep this consistent with the previous uh report.

So this is from 2023 up until October, and similar for 2025.

But there are 568 carjacking robberies in 2023 up until October, and then you see in 2025 there was 192 through the same time period, which shows a 66% decrease in carjackings.

In 2025, there's been a 41% decrease overall in robberies, and down 53% overall from 2023 to 2025.

It's important to note that that 53% difference is 3,047 robberies in 2023 versus 1416 in 2025.

As part of the analysis, we were looking to other cities to see uh how they may be affected by similar challenges.

As part of that analysis, we saw that Oakland was uh far higher in the robbery rate than uh other cities in the Bay Area and also throughout the country.

If you see the robbery rate per 100,000 in Oakland was 654, where San Francisco was 254, Chicago was 89, and then other cities like New Orleans were 131, Cleveland was I think the closest to us at 382.

But it just showed that we while we were seeing progress, we are still continuing uh to deal with challenges specifically related to robbery, which was rather unique to uh Oakland itself.

Looking at further who was most affected by those robberies.

Uh, in 2025 up until October, 55% of the total robberies in Oakland were targeting Latino members of the community.

And we saw that they far led any other group.

Uh the second most impacted group were black members of the community with 19% of the total robberies affecting that community.

This illustrated that robbery had a far greater impact on particular communities of color, uh, and which was kind of counter to some of the narrative that we've seen before.

Specifically related to shootings, uh, this is 2025 data through October.

We saw that black members of the community had been shot 158 times.

These were for injury shootings, not just regular shootings.

Uh, that was 64% of all shootings, uh, which was followed by Latino members of the community, uh, which was the number of 62, which was right around 20%.

Overall, we looked at the communities that were most impacted by homicides.

We've looked at this before as part of the ceasefire strategy, uh, but we wanted to do a reassessment over uh this time period from 2023 until now.

If you looked at 2023, 125 of those homicides, 116 of those victims uh were people of color, which represented 93% of all homicides.

In 2024, uh that number was 85.

Uh we saw 75 of the homicides were people of color, which represented 88% of all homicides in Oakland.

And then looking at uh through September of 2025, uh 51 of those homicides, or there were 51 homicides, 49 of those victims were people of color, which represented 96% of total homicide.

Where we saw that we were making progress.

If you looked at October 2023, there were 104 homicides, and then through October of 2025, there were 55, which is a 47% decrease.

Uh since that time, we're up to 63 homicides as of the last report, uh, and we're down from 120, which is still 47%.

Uh the use of technology continues to be uh utilized, redressing violent crime, uh, but it's also still being committed to the multi-pronged and holistic approach by the entire city of Oakland in keeping with the ceasefire strategy.

Uh and I just made this chart.

Uh, one of the primary uses of this technology is specifically for deterrence and an enforcement where deterrence isn't effective.

But the concept of deterrence is leveraging technology and allocating resources that demonstrate OPD's capability of detecting and addressing violent or disruptive criminal activity to the point that those involved in those activities choose to either discontinue their involvement or operate elsewhere.

Related to accountability, we're focused and using focus and precise accountability for those who are specifically involved in violent and criminal activity by way of informed and focused enforcement with an emphasis on mitigating collateral impact on the community.

And we intend to use technology and leverage technology to continue that focus and dedication to the ceasefire strategy.

Related to the fiscal impact, OPD intends to utilize $2,252,000 over two years in city funding for the Flock safety software.

That is the FLOC ALPR cameras, the 290 cameras that already exist, the additional 40 PTZ or cameras that would be managed by the department, and then the operating system itself to support uh all of those camera systems.

OPD had authorized uh one and a half million dollars over or this year and the next fiscal year, specifically related to the FLOC, so no additional funding has been requested from the general purpose fund.

The funds were already allocated in the OPD fiscal year 2526 budget.

Related to contract safeguards, the data collected is property of the city of Oakland and shall not be shared with any other entity without the consent of the city.

Any violation of this clause would represent a breach for contract, allowing the city and department to terminate the contract and then uh seek potential damages.

As part of the proposed contract, Flock has agreed not to collect anonymize aggregated data for the purposes of machine learning.

Uh that specific clause was something that was brought up uh during the private security meetings.

Uh, and we added it to the contract, and Flock agreed to follow that.

There's additional language within the contract that allows termination of the contract for the following reasons.

Uh federal assumption, this is in the extremely unlikely event that the federal government comes and takes uh control of whether the department or the city where we no longer can act with our own agency related to our data.

Uh in that case, the contract would terminate.

As far as contracting with the federal agency, if Flock enters into a contract with a federal agency that invalidates or compromises, compromises the city's sole ownership of the city data, that would be grounds for termination.

Uh additional safeguards that were put into place.

So, the city, the department continues to be aligned with the principles of the community and the city of Oakland related to criminal or immigration enforcement by the department and city policy.

OPD does not assist with any immigration enforcement, regardless of whether it's technology or physical assistance.

The community safety camera system shall only be used to access by members of the department who are authorized to use it.

No outside agency is authorized to use the flock community safety camera system.

One of the things that came up, I think during the last meeting that's been brought up during privacy commission, is specifically concerned surrounding legal orders.

So any data that's captured by any electronic system is potentially susceptible to legal obligation, e.g., uh court orders, search warrants, subpoenas.

This is not this is not isolated the flock operating system or flock ALPR.

This includes all social media platforms, cell service providers, personal owned smartphones, cloud storage platforms such as iCloud and Google, and privately managed camera networks.

As the city is the owner of the data captured by Flock devices, the city of Oakland would be served the legal order unless prohibited by law.

The city of Oakland City Attorney Office would have the ability to challenge and contest the legal order when appropriate.

It should also be noted the state attorney's general office has shown a willingness and ability to challenge federal overseas overreach by way of legal uh intervention.

Uh related to staffing.

Um we looked at staffing from the last two years.

Uh in January of 2024, uh OPD sworn personnel levels were at 711.

That's 711 on paper, uh, which is 89 fewer than the last proposed staffing study suggested.

In October of 2025, OPD sworn levels were down to 636 sworn officers with an operational staffing level of 509.

Since that time, uh we have dropped down to 618 sworn uh staffing positions with 497 uh operational staffing.

At these numbers, we've had to start disbanding many of our specialized units, uh, and with this trend that will continue uh into next year.

Uh part of the urgency for us was how quickly uh our progress can be released or reversed uh as was demonstrated in the 2020.

If you looked at the first weeks of 2020 or the first six months of 2020, there were 37 homicides.

If you looked at the second half of 2020, you saw a large spike where we had 72 homicides occurring in that six-month period.

The trend continued into 2021, 2022, and 2023.

You're out of order.

Second, you're out of order.

Please please please remover.

Please remove.

Please proceed.

Uh in conclusion, uh, OPD's seen a tremendous progress related to overall crime uh since we put the system into place.

We believe we believe that continuing to leverage technology will allow us to continue the progress that we've made uh and hold the numbers at least at what they are with the intent to push them down further.

We understand that there's uh important balance between privacy and public safety.

We remain committed to that and reassessing this uh system uh not just annually but quarterly to look and see where there can be improvements or if there are any vulnerabilities to the system itself.

And with that, are there any questions?

So, council members, do we want to go straight to public comment?

I know the the public there's a hundred and forty two hundred and forty-five uh members of the public that want to speak to this.

Councilmember Houston.

Yes, I'd just like to thank you, Gabriel, for your thorough report.

And the clarity in our reports you did a good job.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

So we're gonna go to public speakers.

I do want to remind the public.

Um, no matter what side you are on this issue, please respect others that have differing opinion.

Um we want to be able to be sure to hear everyone and as much as possible.

We want to be respectful of everyone here.

So, Madam Clerk, with that, please call the 145 speakers in order.

Before I be called I call the names, I will be calling the names in batches, so please don't step up and say your name is called.

If you have someone seeding time to you, please state their name as you before you bring in your comments so we can give you the appropriate amount of time.

It is easier if you have their yellow slip and you can hand the yellow slip to the clerk representative at the table, so we can give your you your time.

Again, I will be calling the names in batches so I can manage.

Please do not step to the podium and say your name is called.

As with standard practice, Zoom speakers will be taken after the in-chamber speakers.

So if you can just raise your hand when your name is called, and we will get to you after all the speakers in chambers go.

Francis, Francois Luong, Jennifer Too, Hannah Zuckerman, James Birch, Jennifer Finley, Becky Hom, Brian Colberson, Miss Asada Olavala, Marcus Johnson, Nikhil Shiel, Malcolm Jin, Linda Warwick, Laura Hill, Keon Bliss, Larry Levitt.

I have that you have time seeded to you by Carol L.

Van Steenberg.

Carol, when Larry Goes, I need you to stand up to acknowledge your presence that you are giving him your time.

Linda Linda Durvian.

I see that you have time seated to you by Alexis Schroeder.

Alexis, you will need to confirm your attendance and state that you are giving him your time.

Allie Obad, Tuan Gh, Mr.

David Boatwright, Michael Devine, Amad A.

D or Amar D A D, Teodros, Hailey, Chris Moore, Deborah Gelber, Mindy Pachunik, Jim Breden, Jeffrey Angerman, Elaine Dimasy, Griselda Almanza, Elizabeth Ann Corcoran, Juliana Deer, Willow Holiday, Storm Weiner, Alan Brill, Ryel Atlas, Ron Strahalick, Alex, Mark Wesley Dudley, Blair Beekman, Alexandra, Jesse, Nathan N, and I will stop there.

And again, please state your name before you begin.

Please let me know if you have time seated to you.

People seating time must be in the chambers or on Zoom and acknowledge that they are giving you their time.

Go ahead, sir.

Hi, my name is Francois Long.

I am a resident of District 3 and a member of East Bay Democratic Socialist of America.

I'm here to oppose the expansion of the flock contract.

The entire process to bring this item forward to the console has been nothing but shameful and lacking in effects.

The presentation that preceded uh public comment was misleading at best.

The officer uh failed to demonstrate any meaningful correlation between the decreasing crime and the use of flock OS.

And it is also misleading to imply that Flock OS is limited only to ALPRs when, as demonstrated by the officer, uh we are planning to expand its use to private business cameras and ring cameras.

Uh it is also misleading to say that today that will be sequestered to select officers of OPD.

When OPD is a participant of David Boatright District 4.

Given the recent number of tragic news reports and the high percentage of crimes impacting the less advantaged residents in Oakland.

Broader installation of flock cameras will help our understaffed police department more effectively, reduce crime, and make Oakland safer and more attractive place and a more attractive place to live and do business.

No cameras will be aimed at private residences.

I look forward to hearing rational comments against these cameras.

Thank you.

My name is Michael Devine.

I'm a member of the Jewish community here.

I uh and I've been the uh victim of a crime a couple times in Oakland as well.

Uh I come to speak in favor of expanding and extending the flock contract.

Uh we're seeing a major uptick uptick, especially recently in violence, uh anti-Semitic violence against Jews.

We've had uh one major slaughter in Australia.

We have another one that uh happened in um Brown, which is was potentially a terrorist act, and that uh just per recent news that I looked at while waiting.

Uh there's an interesting fact in there.

Uh they're lacking in the Brown University mass shooting, they're lacking um sufficient uh surveillance uh footage to actually find who did it.

There's been already one false accusation uh and uh and a person was taken into custody, and just recently now the internet is going after a Palestinian activist without evidence right now, too.

So this will protect us all.

Thank you.

My name is Mindy Petrunak, candidate for Oakland Mayor, District 4, and I want to give my total thanks to the Oakland police department because what they're doing is tremendous, and what they've just put forward is absolutely the truth.

And right now we need these flock cameras as demonstrated, it does stop crime.

The net the narrative that says this is going to deport people has got to stop.

Because right now, Oakland could become a beautiful city.

We can become a great city, but we need to have these flock cameras.

We need them to both for the robberies, the crimes, the drugs, and if we stay take this as a first major step, and this is why I'm calling on the city council to absolutely support this and pass it now.

We have to be very tough on crime.

We've been too soft on crime.

And right now, you know, you know, I grew up in New York City, and I can tell you we can make Oakland great.

I'm Deborah Gelber, uh District 4 Oakland, and um I'm here to do uh to support uh the flock flock cameras, and uh yeah, it just that was a tremendous presentation.

Um, one thing that I find extremely upsetting is the flippant attitude towards people dying, deaths from crime, violent crime, gun violence.

Uh, you know, you don't think a carjackings don't kill people?

Yes, they kill people.

The destruction of lives through crimes against people's businesses, home invasions.

I have a dear friend that lost a son because he walked in on someone burglarizing his apartment.

He was shot and killed.

You don't the flippant attitude about this, you know, because you think it's cool to be against police.

You know, it's it's cool.

You know, it's disgusting.

It's a more you need a more moral orientation.

Please pause the time.

Please remote the gentleman over there.

He's been giving me two, three warnings.

Please remove him.

You were removed.

Thank you.

Ma'am, ma'am.

When you have 15 seconds for you have 15 seconds remaining.

Please address the chair.

Okay.

So I just wanted to say to other people who want to talk about uh um the question of privacy.

Your cell phone invades your privacy more than any flock camera is ever going to.

It follows you everywhere, folks.

Good afternoon.

My name is Ali Obad.

I'm the president of a small merchant chamber of commerce.

Also, as a business owners, that is the least that we can ask from the city council to approve the flock cameras to deter criminals from doing crimes in Oakland.

There's no such thing as for ICE, FBI or other federal agencies that uh that hold people that uh hold people information, get hold get a hold get a hold of people information from the flock cameras data.

All the agencies already have knows what time you sleep, what time you eat, what time you uh you take a shower.

TVs at homes are sharing your information, phones are sharing your information, uh, debit car shares your information.

Uh if the city councils don't approve the flock cameras, then we will be headed to Washington DC to ask Donald Trump to send us the National Guards.

And one more thing is regarded and one more.

If you don't approve, we will ask Trump to send the National Guards.

So there's no way that you cannot prove that.

Thank you, Mr.

Flock.

Your time's up, Ms.

Radley.

Asian district one.

Do I have a timer?

Thank you.

I'm Elaine Damasse in District One.

I'm here to oppose contracting with Flock.

And let me address one thing I've heard supporters say over these months of meetings.

They say that our concerns for unattended releases to border patrol are unsubstantiated.

No, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights reported that U.S.

Border Patrol conducted thousands of searches using data from 31 police agencies in Washington State, often without the knowledge of those agencies.

404 media reported last May that uh local that um local and state law enforcement agencies and flock systems sorry for the interruption.

Law enforcement agencies and flock systems used flock systems for over 4,000 federal searches.

And it's not only newspapers and watchdog agencies that have been reporting on this.

Um, a cyber attack that breached border patrol data, releasing license plates, and also photographs of faces that was reported.

Thank you, ma'am.

Do you have time to speak to you?

Can you state the name?

So I just wanted to finish.

Can you state the name of the person that's sitting time to you?

George.

Thank you.

Our concerns are well substantiated with a bibliography that we can supply to council members if they need it, and our concerns are growing.

So we want to help the council members protect our privacy.

Hi, please say your name for the record.

Uh Rafi Atlas, District Five.

Uh I'm gonna actually start by asking uh or stating that I uh and many other folks here have come out in the middle of a work day, taking time off of work, uh, to do something that is not our job because you are refusing to do what is your job, and you are showcasing a blatant lack of respect by refusing to make eye contact with the speakers, by walking out of the room, having side conversations, not paying attention when this is your job.

You are paid to be here.

The rest of us have taken our stick time.

We have taken our PTO to be here to do what you are not doing.

You've heard all of the arguments, you have the facts, you understand that Oakland does not feel safe with Flock with these surveillance cameras.

You understand that, but I don't think you are interested in listening, listening or being persuaded.

When Oakland failed, please set your name for the record.

My name is Tuan No, and I'm seated one minute from that gentleman over there.

His name is Seneca Scott.

Seneca, I do not have a card for you.

I apologize.

He's in the system.

So you have your one minute.

When Oakland failed to get the retail death grant, Governor Newsen stepped in and sent us CHP, who wisely intervened to stop crime by installing Flock safety cameras, which have been extremely useful at stopping repeat robberies, at helping us solve shootings and homicides, at catching bad guys on our streets.

I am an immigrant.

I want to be clear.

No, we are a sanctuary city.

No immigrants have been deported from Oakland because of Flock safety cameras.

However, many criminals, violent robbers have been taken off Oakland streets.

So to say and to use the ICE Trump false narrative, fear mongering on us immigrants.

I'm sorry, you're not even immigrants.

I was here, the lone voice at City Council at Privacy Commission talking about the rent surveillance.

Thank you, Mr.

Tuan.

Thank you, Mr.

Tuan.

Tuan, thank you.

Hello, my name is Larry Levitt, and I live on Rosecrest Drive in District 4, and uh Carol von Steinberg has ceded a minute of time to me.

Um, my wife and I have lived here for more than 30 years.

We've raised our family here, and we love this city.

Uh in the last few years, our home has been broken into once.

Our car has been stolen for the second time.

Uh we're happy to see that crime is on its way down this year in Oakland.

This year, only 1,100 people got their homes broken into.

Only 6,000 people had their cars stolen.

Only 1,0600 robberies happened this year, and only 550 people experienced arm robberies.

Only 225 people got carjacked while they were driving across town.

Only 700 of our businesses got robbed, and happily there were only 2,800 aggravated assaults and only 4,700 victims of violent crime.

All told we're on pace for over 26,000 crimes committed in our city this year, which will be celebrated as a good year.

Let that sink in.

We know every council person cares about crime and the tolls taken on our businesses, our residents, and the reputation of our city.

Crime may be down, but we all know it's still way too high.

Each of those 26,000 crimes this year has person and a family or business on the other end.

We applaud OPD for continuing to do their best with an underfunded and understaffed force.

Flock cameras are helping them.

Let's assure that the flock cameras are used responsibly, but please don't take away this key tool, which is helping OPD reduce crime in our city, which we all know is way too high.

Thank you.

Alexis Schroeder has ceded her time to me.

I'm the vice president of the Oakmore Homes Association in District 4.

I speak for over 200 residents, some of whom are here with me today, who voluntarily donated money to install flock LPRs following armed robberies and a brutal armed assault in our neighborhood.

We believe that if we had had flock cameras at that time, the crimes might have been prevented and the criminals apprehended sooner.

Oakland has one of the most transparent civilian governed camera systems in the country.

California state laws are among the most stringent and restrictive data sharing laws in the nation.

As safeguards to privacy and civil rights, Oakland's system has been modified and technically hardened against illegal access and data sharing in partnership with Flock.

The new Flock contract and OPD use policy carry strong measures to protect the civil rights and privacy of everyone.

Don't let misinformation deter us from using state of the art tools that help the understaffed OPD do their jobs more effectively.

Focus on facts and accountability, not fear and speculation.

Flock cameras have helped to reduce crime in Oakland.

That is a fact.

Please vote yes.

Thank you.

I want to say that for the people here supporting Flock and the Council members supporting Flock, you are doing more to advance Trump's agenda in Oakland than anyone else.

You are being foot foot soldiers of a fascist regime.

They are not licensed plate readers.

OPD is lying to you, and you're choosing to believe a department that has scandals like Celeste Guap.

Fong Tran giving out bribes, Michael Chung destroying evidence.

This is the department that you're choosing to believe.

Police department's down 200 officers.

We're struggling on the police budget.

We're struggling on the city budget.

We need to work smarter.

We've got technology.

There are personal protection provisions in place in the ordinance to for personal privacy and things like that.

The city's gonna spend excuse me, I believe I have time.

Oh, I'm sorry, we had you back up behind me.

Please proceed, please proceed.

I'll go real quick.

So you guys want to spend one to two million dollars to help small businesses grow, right?

We want to waive the business tax and see if we can grow our way out in revenues and not just cut expenditures.

So let's help those small businesses by attacking crime.

Please proceed somebody's room chief of staff, like statute.

So pardon me, two more seconds.

I'm right where I was.

I thought it was the people in the back.

Alright, thank you.

Council members, Heather Thomas, District 4.

Oakland is facing a severe capacity crisis.

OPD is operating with roughly 500 officers citywide.

About 28 on control.

So the chair, if we can pause, can you please wait till I call your name in the batch before you approach the podium?

Sorry, I thought you called my name.

Sorry.

If your name was called in this first batch, please approach the podium.

Again, we have 145 speakers.

So please help me out by coming out in the batch that you were called.

If your name was called in the first about 45 speakers that I call, please approach the podium.

One second, one second.

Do we have someone to translate?

Thank you.

Thank you, Director Bachelor.

And through the chair, you will be given two minutes, so she will have one minute to address the council, and then you have one minute to translate.

So no estoy d'accord, some most personas trabajadoras no delincuentes.

So we and the gastarmas dinero in otra cosa, you know in this mas importantist.

That's in my opinion.

Thank you so much, City Council.

I'm here to oppose the cameras because I believe that they are an unjustly put in um areas where there are high populations of immigrants to surveil our community.

I believe that we are workers and we need to be respected in our communities, and I don't believe that these cameras work and that they should not that you should be putting your efforts forward to things that actually work in our communities and not surveillance of immigrant communities.

Are you in the chamber?

Please raise your hand.

Thank you.

Can you just hand the yellow sheet?

Thank you.

Alright, thank you.

Thanks for letting me speak today.

Thank you, OPD for your presentation.

Recover stolen vehicles, stop shootings and homicides, catch repeat offenders, and reduce high-speed chases.

We know that factually that's that's true information.

You know, uh I get into East Oakland quite a bit, and in the little Saigon district, and the gentleman uh back behind me, uh Dr.

Kenneth Anderson with uh the uh Williams Baptist Church.

Um he's at the start of where all the sex trafficking, sex crimes, and all of the the other broken windows and other activities happen.

Flock cameras, and they're supportive of that, of course, because flock cameras are known to help the community and help the people and help the majority of the community to help stop crime and be able to feel more comfortable coming out in the streets again.

We know from polling sixty-seven percent of the community, that's 300,000 people, but the chamber polling has said sixty-seven percent of the community want more safety cameras in our community.

Why do they want that?

Because they're tired of the crime, they're tired of the bipping, they're tired of being their their favorite stores being robbed.

And the fact is uh on uh of uh the the miss versus fact is flock systems capture vehicle information, not personal data.

We can't hear all these all this non-factual information when we know talking to OPD that we have facts, it does not capture personal data.

Flock also the with the data sharing settings are controlled by OPD and they follow Oakland's sanctuary ordinance.

And then lastly, in 2025 alone, flock cameras helped OPD make over 100 arrests, recovered 30 vehicles, and 30 firearms.

Thank you.

Please support.

Hi, my name is Amardi Broad A D.

Thank you.

Okay.

Dr.

Anderson and then state your name for the record, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um again, my name is Amrdi Broad, and I'm here from the business uh community, and I'm here to support the flock camera systems.

And I want to thank City Council for the consideration today for taking your time to consider this piece.

Um, we need to support flock cameras as a system as a tool to the OPD which is understopped and need help as any systems out there.

We need to ensure our local stores, our mom and pop stores, our local businesses stay out here at City of Oakland to support the tax revenue to support the tax dollars.

We need to support the we need to stop the crime tourism, which is coming to Oakland because of the lack of if infrastructure we have in place.

So that's where we need all kinds of tools, including Flock system to support OPD.

So we we could outnumber the the people who are coming to Oakland and causing all the damage.

We don't want National Guard here, City of Oakland.

We are a century city, and we very well can defend it.

Thank you.

Okay.

Good afternoon.

My name is Becky Hom, and I'm with Asian Pacific Environmental Network.

I also live in District 5.

I'm here today to bring up concerns with about the Flock Company and the ability of Oakland to guarantee the safety of our community.

Flock is not a secure system on the technology side.

The cameras and website are very easy to hack.

Flock is an untrustworthy company.

Denver City Council recently voted against renewing their contract with Flock, stating that the company has demonstrated such disregard for honesty and accountability.

One example of this comes from an Illinois Secretary of State audit where it's discovered that Flock secretly had been uh had worked with Customs and Border Protection on a pilot program.

This sort of behavior puts our immigrant community at risk.

Please consider the impact of your vote.

Good afternoon.

My name's Hannah Zuckerman.

I'm a D2 resident.

Um the Flox contract is terrible for Oakland and it does not keep us safe.

We are seeing cities moving away from Flock.

We believe Santa Cruz just canceled their flock contract, paused their readers because of safety concerns.

Folks have gotten up here claiming that flock cameras prevent crime.

They catch the crime after it's happened.

Why don't we really prevent crime by funding DVP?

Violence prevention programs have been proven to slow to stop crime.

I have spoken with the Fruitville Merchants Association, and they a lot of them don't believe that this contract is the right contract.

They want cameras, but they don't want cameras that share data with ice.

They're immigrants, they want to bring back the community ambassadors and see people on the streets, see lights, bring back people to the Fruitville, bring back people to our businesses, and that will help prevent crime.

Okay, we do not need data being shared.

And license plate is personal data.

It is.

A community process of looking for a new ALPR vendor in the next year.

We can then quickly end any new short-term flock contract when a new ALPR vendor is bound.

If a two-year flock contract will be approved today, please work with all parts of the community in the next year to begin looking for a better principled new ALPR vendor.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Elizabeth Corcoran, D2.

Flock is a company backed by the same billionaires that back President Trump.

If we build this surveillance system in Oakland, it will be used to target our community members as it has been in other cities.

In Oakland, we have made a commitment to be a sanctuary city, and that commitment includes OPD and it includes all of you.

Lastly, I have worked in public health and violence prevention for almost a decade.

I have also been a victim of violence in Oakland.

But I know, as I suspect you do too, that surveillance does not improve public safety.

I urge the council to consider the measures that we know actually prevent violence, improving streets with lighting and transportation options, parks, funding, employment opportunities, youth engagement, employing safety ambassadors, and violence interrupters.

These is what our dollars should be funding.

This is how we prevent violence, not targeting my neighbors and lining the pockets of billionaires.

Hello, Ron Strohlick, District 4.

My parents were Holocaust survivors.

They were hunted like animals by an authoritarian white supremacist regime that hated my people because we were different.

My parents were imprisoned in slave labor and extermination camps under harsh and inhumane conditions.

We're seeing a frighteningly similar playbook in the U.S.

today with another white supremacist regime that hates immigrants and is willing to defy all decency to have them gone.

Flock has shown over and over again that it cannot be trusted with the sensitive data it collects, that it is used by ICE and other agencies to detain and deport our immigrant neighbors.

A yes vote on the Flock contract will make you complicit in this horror show.

I can assure you that history and voters will not judge you kindly.

Like Richmond and Santa Cruz, I urge the Oakland City Council to do the right thing, reject this nefarious technology.

It's being used against immigrants today and could easily be used against any of us tomorrow.

Please vote no and reject this contract.

Thank you.

And I want to get ahead of any amendments that you're about to propose after we all give public comments.

We know that Flock proposes these amendments amendments for feckless politicians like many of you to give cover for what you're gonna do and sell out our community to ICE and the Trump agenda.

I have been working very hard to reach out to you in good faith, individually, all of you, to try to warn you the dangers of flock, and in that process, Kevin Jenkins, have you had the time to read the three-page letter from Ron Wyden saying expressly and succinctly how dangerous this is?

You've told me that you don't have the time for that.

And Charlene Muong, your chief of staff told me that that my that because I didn't do a specific public records request that my claims are invalid.

That's absolutely not true, and he was gaslighting me in Zach Unger.

Me and my other district one residents have gotten dismissive and uh disingenuous arguments from you about what you call engagement, yet when I introduce you to a to a subject matter expert from electronic pound deer foundation, you are suddenly silenced.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comments.

Hello, uh, my name is Ted Rosalia, District 5.

Okay.

Um we have two big challenges in Oakland.

Limited funds and limited police officers.

Flock bridges both of these gaps and provides our city with a huge return on investment.

Number one, we leverage the power of the Flock database covering the Bay Area, and in other words, we get access to all of the assets of multiple cities and jurisdictions at no cost.

Number two, we capture actionable intelligence that OPD's skeleton crew does not have to canvas for.

So with the investment of 2.25 million dollars, we get tens of millions of dollars of safety funding in return.

On the flip side, if we abandon flock, we become the one glaring surveillance hole in the Bay Area, which is a huge invitation to you know who.

So at the end of the day, crime affects all of us, the documented and undocumented, and if we don't have a vibrant, busy, safe city, none of us have anything.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Before the next speaker begins, I'm going to call some more names.

Because your name called in the first batch.

Jessica Chin, Michael Kennedy, Broadhead, Jose Dorado, Emily Kay, Zerkaes, Morgan Pike, Lou, Oh, Michelle Williams, Zeta Mays, Nita, Marta Isabel, Ralph Cannes, Adam Wolf, Maggie Wolf, Reem Sullivan, Kat Brooks.

I'm sorry, I'm gonna say your name incorrectly again.

Reeflay.

Refill way, thank you.

James, Breeder, Jim, Donatale, Phoebe, Jane.

So duplicate, Michelle, Dingerwood, have a car with no name 4204 Highland, or I'm sorry, High Null, Fritz, Hoffalander, Rick Bellin, Josephine, we, Tony Trin, G Wiz, Elizabeth Duplicate, Julie Anderson, Audrey E.

L.

Caleb, Navi, Anun Awan.

Alexandra District 3 or District 2.

People have wrongly stated that two-thirds of Oakland wants Flock when the poll statistic that that data comes from never even mentioned Flock.

The 2025 Oakland Chamber of Commerce poll found that to varying degrees, 66% or two-thirds of respondents, quote, favored using security and surveillance cameras with civilian oversight, end quote.

They did not poll for approval of the Flock company.

So it is a false and disingenuous claim to say that two-thirds of Oakland residents support Flocks or support this contract.

Rather, city counselors heard a vast majority of public commenters on this item say no to Flock and no to this contract.

Vote no on this contract and start over with a process that addresses the concerns that surfaced through this public oversight process.

Thank you.

My name is James Breed, and I just want to clarify something first.

I thought I was called in the first batch under Jim Breed.

Uh, but then in the second, you just said my name again in the second batch.

So James Breeding, District 2.

Uh, I'm the president of Lakeshore Homes Association, which installed eight cameras about two years ago.

I just want to talk about one of the serial robberies that he mentioned.

Uh, about a year ago, we had a woman getting out of her car in front of her home where she was accosted by a man at gunpoint.

Uh that man and several other young men walked her into her home where she was held at gunpoint, and they spent the next half hour ransacking her home while she was looking at a gun.

She was worried her kid was gonna come home from school the whole time.

Walk into that mess.

That is the kind of serial robbery that Flock has stopped.

Yes, it doesn't stop crimes, it gets them after the fact, but it keeps them from preventing more crimes.

The police, when we we were able to tag this car because we knew the time it left and we had it off our camera.

The victim was informed that.

Thank you for your comments.

Council Parson Jenkins and Council members, my name is Jessica Chim.

I'm a working community bank and former nonprofit uh executive in Chinatown today.

I'm here to urge counsels to approve the uh flock agreement.

Here are the reasons.

Currently, OBD has less than six fifty-swan officers.

We should try to get them up while we are trying to hire more officers.

Second, when we try to arrange various programs to prevent crimes, we should also bring peace of mind to our citizens.

Third, although it's very important to keep the individual's privacy, it's more important to provide evidence to prosecute crime and support the NSM victims.

When I work in Chontown Chambers, we were able to install some cameras at the intersection in Chinatown.

It helps with some cases until today.

Therefore, I would like to ask you to support the flock chemicals.

Thank you.

Morgan Pike, District 4.

I work in IT for a large healthcare organization.

We have many terabytes of medical data and financial data in our custody.

Securing that data is of paramount importance to my team and to me.

So it is with some hesitation that I support renewing the contract with Flock, a company that has shown it cannot be trusted.

Oakland has done his due diligence with the Flock contract, but there's still a chance that our data will be leaked out to the various third parties.

That's a risk worth taking because of the potential benefits of the system.

The data at risk, after all, are not medical records or financial records.

It is activity on public streets.

Hello, my name is Zeta Mays.

I am a resident of District 3, a voter and an ACE member.

I'm here to urge you to vote no on the Flock surveillance contract.

The surveillance technology has already caused real harm here in Oakland and all over the country.

And can be given to law enforcement and other uh agencies for peaceful protesters, mass surveillance like this kills freedom of speech.

Uh the license plate readers and camera networks have already been used across the country to monitor monitor lawful demonstrations, identify participants, and retaliate against people for exercising their constitutional rights.

Hi, I'm Maggie Will from Maggie Takuta Hall.

I live in District 1, and I'm a parent here, urging you to reject Flock in Oakland.

As an author for young people, I talk to them a lot, and it breaks my heart that most of them have no faith in democracy anymore because they're watching the adults around them sand it down.

I keep telling them that we have to fight.

They keep asking me if it'll do any good.

I want to tell them that it will, but actions like those taken by this city council has made in regard to Flock, has made me look like a fool.

So let's be clear.

Oakland has already spoken.

We said no to Flock.

It died in committee multiple times.

It has required procedural resuscitation to revive this flock contract.

It is highly likely that Councilman Houston tipped his hand and accidentally admitted to violating the Brown Act in a previous meeting, which exists to protect the people's interests in order to push this through.

Whether or not you personally, as a voting member today, agree think that flock cameras should exist in Oakland is irrelevant.

You have a sacred duty to represent the people who the will of the people, not just the special interests of the name is Adam Wolf.

Can you give him your yellow sheet?

Because I cannot hear you.

Ray Hey, you know, very okay.

Ray K.

Sorry.

Ray and A.

Yeah, I can't have a good.

So we're going to start you with your one minute while we move through these cards to see if there's a Reiki.

I kind of want to know which version to read.

Through the chair, do you want to let the next person go first?

Hi, my name is uh Michelle Gudgeonwood, um District 2, and uh I want to start by uh asking why are we even here again with this?

This has been rejected a number of times, and yet we're back here again arguing a non-point.

Um, one thing I've noticed today is a lot of smug responses from the people up here.

Some of you are very engaged and watching and listening and paying attention, and I appreciate that.

I have been watching and I've seen several smug um uh smug looks on your on your faces while you're listening to people who are against what you're promoting here.

Um I think it's deplorable that we're having this meeting here on a Tuesday at one in the afternoon.

We're either taking time off work or we're getting we're not getting paid to be here.

This should be happening with enough announcement and in the right amount of time so that people can be here.

We need to follow the money while you're hello, I'm back.

Adam Wolf, District One.

Little a little out there.

I want to focus on the logic being used to justify this expansion because I think it is deeply flawed.

We're being told that because the city needs to keep the current camera system running, we must urgently expand it.

But renewal and expansion are two separate decisions.

The urgency here is about continuity, yet it's being used to bypass due diligence on whether expanding surveillance is actually justified.

That urgency is largely artificial.

We've known for a year that this contract was expiring, and realistically, if Oakland did not approve this expansion tonight, Flock would absolutely work with OPD to allow interim access while the city reworked a new deal.

They do this all over the country.

The idea that cameras would suddenly go dark unless we rush through an expansion just doesn't reflect how these vendors actually operate.

I've also heard concerns that if cameras were paused or reduced, criminals from across the Bay Area would suddenly flock to Oakland.

That claim sounds intuitive, but it is not supported by evidence.

Crime displacement, the idea that criminals actively seek out cities with ALPRs has been studied extensively in the US and the UK.

The consistent finding is that displacement is rare, often absent entirely, and when it does occur, it's partial, not a mass migration of crime.

There's no data showing criminals monitor ALPR coverage and reroute their behavior accordingly.

So pausing expansion is not reckless, it's unlikely to interrupt OPD's use at all.

And even in the worst case scenario, the fears being raised aren't grounded in research.

I'm probably not like most speakers tonight.

I do believe that some form of interconnected surveillance is inevitable in modern society.

But who builds it, who controls it, and what incentives they operate under matters enormously.

Flock is a growth-driven startup whose contract terms make clear this data can be compelled and turned over through legal process far beyond Oakland's control.

We've already seen ALPR systems used for stalking, tracking abortions, and sharing immigrants.

My name is Josephine Hui.

I am uh the vice president of the Tai San Family Association.

I am here this afternoon not only representing myself, I am representing my patroller team.

We established in 2021 March, and we have been patrolling every day tongue in Chinatown to make sure the s the streets are safety for our residents, and and we create a good business environment for our merchants.

And uh today I have to uh thanks the OPD.

They did a very good job on reporting the report.

And we are here to support the Oakland Police Department.

We need to have cameras.

Thank you for your comments.

Hello, my name's Richard Ballou, District One.

And uh I see us talking about trust.

Uh the lack of trust in Flock is appropriate.

They have clearly demonstrated they can't maintain their own data.

We're now talking about trust in this body.

It has been brought to the privacy advisory council and got thumbs down.

It got brought to public safety and got thumbs down.

I don't know how many times we need to tell you, a hundred of us at a time, that this isn't the kind of security we want.

There are other vendors.

There is time to find a well-engineered system to accomplish the same purposes.

Ben Franklin said, those who would give up liberty for security, hi.

Um I start now.

Emily Katz, district one.

Um, I love this city, and I've been a victim of crime in this city, and I vehemently oppose Flock.

Um, you know, I I appreciate the safeguards that the police department has included in the contract, but I don't think they're sufficient, and I don't share their trust in their vendor.

Why are we shortcutting the diligence process?

As others have mentioned, there's plenty of opportunity to find a better vendor to do the things that our community wants.

Um, I also, you know, I think that the the things that that we can do if they share our data in ways that we don't want, termination of the contract, all of that is after the horse leaves the barn, right?

Once the data is collected, it is stored, it persists.

And so um, you know, our recourse then to terminate the contract with Flock, is that sufficient?

Does that undo harm to our community?

Um, you know, uh companies like Flock and Palantir clearly share information with federal agents.

Thank you, ma'am.

Your time is up.

My name is Phoebe Jane.

I am an executive director of Repro Care, a national abortion hotline nonprofit.

We supported 4,500 abortion seekers this year, and I live in Oakland.

Oakland should not be setting up systems that will be used to surveil pregnant women driving to California.

There is no way to exempt people having abortions from flock surveillance.

When police criminalize pregnancy, they rarely cite abortion laws.

They claim to investigate charges like child endangerment and murder.

Abusive men use abortion bans and threats of police to terrorize their victims, and flock is a great tool for them.

Cops in Texas have already used Flock this way after an abusive man reported his partner for getting abortion pills from California.

The police used a flock search with data from other states for a death investigation into the woman's fetus, then lied and said they were searching out of concern for her safety.

Oakland should be a safe haven from these attacks on reproductive rights.

But you're giving Texas cops a direct 3, opposed.

This proposal fails on every promise.

The data is clear that creating safer communities comes from supporting community-based organizations, affordable housing, and violence prevention, not partnering with bad tech that profits off the creation and use of surveillance infrastructure that will be exploited by federal immigration enforcement and undoubtedly other parties.

The Trump administration has stated their willingness to use force to access this kind of information to attack anyone they can profit from, considering that Flock has proven itself an untrustworthy company with no credibility.

This contract leaves all of us vulnerable to technology facilitated abuse.

This is not about keeping us safe.

This is about wealthy people finding another way to benefit at the expense of Oakland residents, wealthy people who care so little about Oakland, they would bring in the National Guard over a car break-in, who clearly don't know or have forgotten what actual harm to a community looks like.

No bad contracts that hurt Oakland residents to appease the wealthy for the third time, no flock.

Hi everybody.

About 30 years ago, my grandfather got shot in Oakland, Chinatown.

I was on America's Most Wanted.

We never caught those guys.

Two years ago, I almost saw my mom die to uh with eight gunmen robbery, and they never got caught.

And then I see the similar robberies that happen in San Francisco, San Jose, and they all have Flock system and the catch up within a week.

And in Oakland, the message here is very clear.

Do the crime and you're not gonna get caught.

Because we don't have the technology, we don't have the infrastructure.

I started this job because I was sick and tired of seeing this happen.

And I'm very proud of the city council here.

I'm very proud of the leadership because you guys are on the right track.

So please continue this.

This is the best thing that's happened for Oakland.

We just need to make amendments and Julie Anderson, District One.

I'm speaking in opposition to Flock.

I understand the importance of reducing crime in Oakland, but Flock is not the way.

FLOC is a private company out of Georgia.

They have shared data with ICE and border control in the past.

I do not believe they will honor agreements with Oakland.

Tech companies have a history of lying.

And so do I.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Jim Donatell, 20-year resident of Oakland, District 2.

I'm also the Flock administrator for my homeowners association's nest of eight cameras.

What I wanted to share with you was an incident we were able to help OPD with a large violent side show.

Between 2 30 and 3 30 a.m.

116 cars came into our neighborhood.

Shooting firearms, fireworks, dangerous car driving.

50% were tied of the scams tied to four cars.

We packaged the information, gave it to OPD.

They took three of the cars off the street.

That's technology that works.

Let's support OPD.

I believe I was called, I don't know if it was pronounced Caleb Morin or Marin.

What's that?

Thank you.

Caleb Moran, District 3.

Let me say the quiet part loud.

The law only bends when we break it first.

The Rules Committee, December 11th violated the Ralph Brown Act.

It's President Renage on his promise and used his powers to hide from us.

But we know how Jenkins and Houston work.

They break what won't bends and confuse us for people who won't do the same.

I will not repeat what thousands warn.

I will restate what we know.

Each flock camera is a weapon.

Destroying it is self-defense.

How one brings down cameras does not concern me.

Legality stopped mattering Thursday.

Today it decides only what Oakland will face.

Which law her people break next.

Thank you for your comments.

Moving to the next group of speakers.

June Liu, Samantha Wise.

This is a duplicate.

Para Dara, Kilo Matson, Derek Barnes, Linda O.

Young, Claire Ruppnow, Green Lopez.

Maybe Carmen.

Ash W.

Gina Goldblatt, Jonathan Birch, Alejandro Garcia, Parados, Ian Bailey, Emily Rachel Coogan, Johnny Castro, Brynman Turner or Bretman, William Tamayo, Brenda Grisham, Bradley Morgan, Rajny Mandal, Heather Thomas.

Is this a duplicate?

James Tran, Tracy Rosenberg, Sanal C, Sierra Warwick, Rebecca Gurney, Ralph Brown, Rajni Mondal, Kevin Daly, Juan Cannon.

I believe that's a duplicate.

Kelsey Herbert, Kate Steele, and just in case you're wondering, yes, I do have one more pile.

So if I haven't called you, you're probably in the last pile.

Good afternoon.

My name is Reefilaway.

I am here once again, standing in coalition with multi-generational, multiracial community from Oakland, who is once again asking you to say no to the flock contract, or asking you to stand with the people of Oakland and not the fascist government in office in the White House or the billionaires that are backing some of the community members who aren't even from the town that are in the room.

A lot of folks aren't even just uh trying to cover up the fact that they are in line with these fascist powers that be saying things like they want to make Oakland great again, right?

Reiterating these talking lines that say that people like myself don't matter in a city that I'm from.

The first time I ever looked at a city budget was in 2012 when this city was looking to close a number of our public libraries, and the entire time I've sat here, I've just been thinking, man, I wish our libraries could take up this kind of time, time energy and effort.

Libraries that provided me shelter and support and resource as a community.

Well, good evening, good afternoon, uh City Council people.

I am a delighted to be here.

I didn't mind taking off from work because this is important, and I didn't show up before, but I need to show up now.

I'm here.

My name is Samantha Wise.

I live in District 6.

I have a business in District 3 and I have a rental property in District 7, so I'm all over the place.

I've been in Oakland for 56 years, so I know what it looked like, and I know what I want it to look like today.

And I'm here in support of approving the flock safety camera program as a lifelong Oakland resident, business owner, nonprofit leader, mother, grandmother, all of these things, safety is important.

And I know it's not going to deter crime, but when I was against it originally, until they told me they stopped a car that had somebody's daughter in it.

She was being trafficked.

And when they were able to fight pull that license plate and pull that guy over, that girl was brought back to her family.

And so for me, it's about safety.

And for me, it's about you guys doing the right thing.

If we can save somebody's child and bring them back home from being trafficked, good afternoon.

My name is Valerie Bachelor, and I'm a district six resident voter and director of ACE Oakland.

I want to remind this council that this surveillance technology has already been illegally used right here in Oakland.

A lawsuit filed in Alameda County confirmed that OPD illegally shared flock license plate data with federal agencies, including ICE, including FBI and including the DEA.

According to the report by the Oakland standard, OPD allowed the database to be used 200 times for federal investigations, including explicitly ICE cases.

That means immigrant families in my district and across this city were exposed to deportation risks without being suspected of a crime.

Again, as other folks have also mentioned, this is putting women like myself at risk because again, this is creating a paper trail in order for folks that are seeking abortion care and also for protesters that are peacefully protesting and using their First Amendment rights.

So as a district six voter, I refuse.

Thank you, Miss Bachelor.

Your time is up, and Alberto Parra.

So resident delistrict, votante y member de ACE.

Stoyaki para pedirles que vote no sobre el contrato de vigilancia flock.

Y in total for familias immigrantes, systemas como Flock se han utilizado para facilitar las deportaciones de personas, incluso in ciudadanio.

Los residents de Oakland no deberían determinar la escuela oral.

So information puede ingresar in un sistema al que ISPA accede.

My name is Alberto Para, and I am from District 5, and I'm a voter and an ACE member, and I'm here to urge you to vote no on the flock contract.

The surveillance technology has already caused harm in our communities and all over the country.

For immigrant communities, systems like Flock have been used to track people for deportation, even in sanctuary cities.

Oakland residents should not fear driving to work, church, or school, knowing that this data is going to be fed to a national system that's accessible to ICE.

As an Oaklander, I want my I don't want my city to track, target, and endanger my neighbors.

Uh, we are a sanctuary city that protects civil rights, and I want you to reject this contract.

My name's Linda Luisa, Oakland resident.

I stand against Flock in Oakland.

We're not fooled for a minute here.

We know this information will be used by hostile agencies like the FBI, ICE, and with the orange madman in the White House, we can be sure this information will be commandeered by him.

On 8 15 25, the ACLU released a report that in um this orange madman.

Um correction ICE release uh released report that ICE is using Flock to help Trump in his deportation program.

Uh 404 media reported that Texas law enforcement used flock data to track down women leaving the state to get abortions.

We are increasingly turning into a big brother state.

These cameras are just another invasion of our privacy.

Um, in Evanston, Illinois, Flock.

Thank you, ma'am.

Your time is up.

Hello, I am Kylo Matson, and I'm a D5 resident and small business owner and D1, and I strongly oppose FLOC.

I would like to uh address the statistics manipulation that OPD put in the supplemental presentation today, the supplemental presentation that was attached to today's meeting agenda and OPD's proposal for this two million dollar investment.

Tries to cite that Flock security can reduce crime.

However, Flock itself has made claims that their systems reduce crime by 70% in San Marino, California.

Yet other outlets show that crime increased there by five percent.

OPD Terry picks pandemic era data and tries to say that crime was reduced by 41 to 53 percent after the installation of Flock cameras in 2024 in California, and that in between and that between 2023 and 2025, there was a 66% decrease in carjacking and robberies.

Except when you compare this pre-2020 statistics to 25, there's no statistical difference.

Thank you for the time.

Please vote no on Flock.

My name is Gina, District 2.

And I just want to point out the wording of urgency that we've brought this meeting again today for the third time when it has been turned down by Oakland people, and that is what is urgent to the folks that are pushing this forward.

So I would just like to turn the gaze at the people who see that as urgent.

What is actually urgent right now is that we keep ice the fuck out of Oakland.

That's not happening.

And also, I would like to remind you that we are not stupid and that we know history.

There is a history of folks being corrupt on this body and using this as a way to put money in their own pockets.

So who is whose payroll are you on?

The people pushing this forward?

That's what I want to know.

And we're watching for that.

Hi, my name is Brad Morgan.

I'm a resident of District 4 in Oakland, and I love this city.

And thank you all for your time here.

Our neighborhood invested in flock cameras, and these have already helped identify suspects of car thefts, break-ins, and other incidents.

And OPD having access to this has been a critical part of that.

I understand concerns about privacy.

It's worth noting that mobile devices prove more against privacy than do flock cameras.

Yeah, we all use smartphones daily.

Let's keep perspective when we debate public safety tools.

All right.

FLACT has a strict policy against this.

It only captures license plates.

National studies have shown that it actually helps solve roughly 10% of crimes across the nation.

These technologies are going to be used.

Rather than ignore it, let's use them for the public good with clear oversight and privacy protection, as I said in the contract.

Thank you.

My name's Jonathan District 2.

Thank you for my one minute, Your Majesties.

I want to start by sincerely thanking you, Carol, for being the only city council member here with a semblance of integrity.

To the rest of you, we will remember this when you're up for re-election.

Now I want to know why you keep changing the times for this meeting.

Why does it feel like you're trying to pull a fast one on us?

And why does it feel like you have such disdain for us?

Especially when we make the obvious connections between Palestine Palantir and the pigs we have here.

You won't gaslight us into believing this is about local public safety when in Dublin, as we speak, they're having comment on turning the disgraced women's detention center into an ice slaver, ice slave labor camp.

This is what these cameras will be used for.

In conclusion, it doesn't matter what you look like if you as a politician cede power to a fascist Nazi regime.

Guess what that makes you?

A Nazi.

And if you choose to do bidding for the CEOs of Palantir, I want to tell you you're not on their team and you're not on their level.

They don't usually walk among us, but you live in our neighborhoods and will remember your faces.

Thank you.

My name is Heather Thomas.

I'm a district four resident, and I'm asking the city to choose evidence over ideology when it comes to public safety.

Oakland does not have the staffing to respond in real time.

OPT has 500 officers citywide, roughly 28 on patrol per shift, zero in my neighborhood.

That is our reality.

When response isn't possible, evidence matters.

Flock cameras are vehicle-focused tools.

They are not facial recognition and not people tracking.

They capture cars and license plates with time and location, giving police a way to identify suspects when officers cannot be there, which is most of the time.

Residents support using technology to improve safety.

Choose evidence over ideology.

Thank you.

No on Flock.

Um, the city of San Jose is facing a uh APL or lawsuit brought by um ACLU and EFF on behalf of an immigrant rights group.

Um, in the complaint, it um cites that um SJPD allowed four million searches in their um uh ALPR database over a period of 12 months.

Um, this is like um Oakland, San Jose brags itself on being a sanctuary city.

You're you're going down the same route as San Jose and facing another lawsuit.

The second point I want to um make is that flock fear mongers about only or one type of crime, street crime, while ignoring the costly white-collar crimes like identity theft.

And um, AR AARP reports that the cost of identity theft to individuals amounted to 43 billion in 2023.

And so flock is its predatory business model in the name is Rin Lopez, District 3, and I've lived in the East Bay my whole life.

The way to decrease crime is to create social programs that uplift impoverished communities by meeting their basic housing, health, and food needs.

OPD is trying to use identity politics to say they're protecting victims of color, while conveniently ignoring that the vast majority of people they do and will incarcerate are black and brown.

Prison is not accountability for criminals, it is punishment in the form of slave labor.

We need to think critically about what crime is.

Why does OPD only investigate property crime but not the billions of dollars in wage theft that is stolen from the working class every year?

We must adamantly reject the narrative of understaffed police departments when the historical reality is the police across the country have never had such lavish budgets and fancy toys of violence furnished by Israel.

By pushing this through after being rejected time and time again, you prove that you have a class interest in maintaining poverty because it reproduces conditions that lead people to a life of crime in the first place, which is profitable for the corporations and landowners you serve.

Hello, hello, my name is Alejandro District 3.

I'm here to encourage you all to vote no on flock.

The Democratic Party does not serve working people, they serve our tech oligarchs.

Notice what was omitted by that fluff-failed presentation.

There was no mention of ICE accessing our data before.

There are no mentions of the false positives of these cameras.

And there is no mention of Flock's connection to Palantir.

Our Democratic politicians, which is the entire council, right?

Are serving us on a platter to the prison industrial complex.

This is intentional.

These council members are self-serving so they can enrich themselves.

The USA wants to create Palestine in all our cities.

We need to prevent this.

Right?

We can't be reactionary in how we deal with crime.

Right as other people have more eloquently stated, we need social programs.

Prevention is the key.

How do you prevent?

Why do people do crime?

Because they're impoverished.

We we deny dignity to that tens of thousands of people in the city.

How do you expect them to survive?

And you guys don't care.

There's no eviction waratorium.

You're not doing anything productive to help working people.

And that's your MO.

Shame.

Hi, my name is Brennan.

I just want to say, first of all, if we have a skeleton crew that gives us the oversight resources to enforce protections on this contract.

You have repeatedly met opposition on this contract from both committees and from the general public.

I noticed that you've rescheduled this meeting to the middle of a weekday, and you still ended up with almost the same amount of people coming to comment as November.

The public safety situation you claim to be addressing with this contract is as real as you claim it is.

So why are you choosing to bypass basic democratic standards to push for this wildly unpopular company that again, a simple FOIA request would tell you has illegally leaked data as we have seen in Evanston, Illinois?

You have failed to address these concerns as well as the suggestions from police response call time auditors to implement the pre-existing no-cost GPS technology in police vehicles to reduce call times.

The refusal to hold a democratic open competitive bid for similar technology companies with legitimate privacy practices at the suggestion of council member five is hi, my name is June Liu.

Um earlier I heard the cops say that uh license plate readers don't track uh faces and are not tied to AI.

Um, this is a myth they're trying to sell you.

Um the way it works is license plate readers currently might not do that, but as we heard, Flock is an operating system that retains all of our data and flock does work and use AI.

It also uses facial recognition.

It actually allows all the existing cameras, so we're looking at ring doorbells, we're looking at these license plate readers that are in place as these sort of lenses, and they as the back end will use AI to um watch all of us to see what we look like, how we walk, um, and retain all that data.

We live in a fascist society right now.

If you believe there's anything worth pushing back against, all these people will be criminalized and disappeared, and they're gonna rely on Flock to do that.

Hi, my name is Ian Bailey.

I would like you to consider that Flock is a private company with closed code uh closed source code on their application and devices that are not available to the consumer market.

So if there's a security exploit in their hardware or their software, you're not gonna know about it.

And there's no one looking over that stuff besides Flock.

And they aren't too keen on reporting any exploits in anything they make.

Also consider that you could hire any company to operate your big brother cameras if that's really what you want to do.

Um, until I get my mic cut, I'm going to tell you about my favorite uh or least favorite security vulnerabilities.

One is that you can pause the app and runtime and inject malicious code.

Another one is that you can enter the camera into debug mode by pressing the button in the back in the right sequence.

Once you do that, you can add before the next speaker goes, Seneca Scott, we do have a card for you, and Mr.

Tuan said you were ceding his time your time to him.

I don't know if you want to give it to him or if you want to take the time for yourself.

We do have a card for you.

Uh, I'm Juan.

Uh, unlike some of us, I am an Oakland resident.

Um, several council members ran on cleaning up city Hall and making it more transparent, and yet you're bending over backwards, changing your own rules in order to push through a no-bid expansion of a no-bid contract.

Um, this is why uh voters in D7 and D5, 80% don't bother voting.

Why bother when city council is just gonna rubber stamp whatever OPD asked for, ex not exercising your democratic authority over the budget, which is what you're elected to do.

This is an abdication of your responsibilities.

None of the data that was presented by OPD in any way justifies the 24-7 pan and tilt can cameras they intend to deploy.

I moved home in 2004.

Should I get credit for the decrease in crime?

Should I get 2.4 million?

Maybe OUSD should get 2 million to teach OPD how to demonstrate trends.

If this passes, we will foyer the number plates of council members, because that seems to be something you you're all okay with.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Derek Barnes, uh D3 resident and someone running a business in Oakland.

For me, public safety is violence prevention, social and economic justice, protecting the youth, and ultimately saving lives.

Oakland needs to improve in all of these areas.

Pay attention to public commenters and the city's organizations and districts they represent.

As a black man in one of this country's most targeted groups, what I don't want to return to is the 90s war on crime ethos that falsely accuse uh innocent people, locked up millions of la mass incarceration, didn't solve crimes or apprehend real criminals.

Flock helps to level this playing field.

In a resource-constrained city, OPD needs help and flock in just one of many tech tools with guardrails Oakland can use to help Oakland rise.

Please advance this ordinance to give OPD the resources to build strong cases while minimizing unethical enforcement tactics.

Thank you.

Buenas noches.

My name is Jose Antonio Dorado.

Um I'm here to speak against flock cameras, but the question is not about flock cameras.

The question is what side are you on?

Are you on the side of big money and the hills and downtown interests, or are you on the side of the people, the majority that live in your districts?

Brown and black, low-income working people.

So that's the real question.

What side are you on?

And many anybody that comes up here and says that they speak for the community and are in favor of flock cameras, are liars and hypocrites.

Plainly speaking.

There's only one thing that you have to think about, and that is how you can you best serve your community, and the community you see are right here, and you've heard very clearly that they do not want flock cameras.

Hi, my name is Alan Brill.

I've seen in my 45 years here in Oakland, dozens of you sitting up here.

Hi, Noelle.

Um, and I want to say that I don't want to talk about justice.

I don't want to talk about crime control.

I don't want to talk about what's the ethical thing for you to do.

You've heard that hundreds and hundreds of times, but you've chosen a majority of you have chosen to come here today behind the democratic process to try to get something done.

I'm been around long enough, and I've been an activist for long enough to say that I just want to talk about your future.

Your future.

Yeah, do some of you want to be around for a little while.

You have some aspirations for the future.

I want to tell you, you passed this, and we will not let you forget.

Time was ceded to me one minute.

I spent an entire day walking the streets of Oakland and talking to residents.

Many residents and businesses cannot be here because they are working and taking care of their family.

But the vast majority of people I talked to were impacted by the violence of crime on Oakland Streets.

I talked to immigrants.

None of the immigrants have family members that were deported.

In fact, zero family members have been deported in Oakland, and Flock has been in operation for over a year, not only in Oakland, but in all neighboring cities of Oakland, as well as over 40 cities across the Bay Area.

Flock is not some fly-by-night company.

It has wide footprint across the entire state and the entire country and has solved over 7,000 crimes, including last month in Berkeley, putting a child sex trafficker that was torturing a little girl and lighting her on fire, setting her on fire.

Thank you, Twan.

Your time is up.

Thank you.

Calling the last batch.

Hold on, wait, wait, wait.

Please respect speakers regardless of where you are on the item.

We've done a wonderful job thus far.

We're almost done.

And just to be clear, through the chair to the members of the public, he did not speak twice.

He did have a minute ceded to him by Mr.

Scott, who was over there, and I did not see the card at first.

Thank you.

Julia, these are this is the last um batch of names again.

If you're in chambers, step to the podium if your name was already called.

If you're on Zoom, please raise your hand.

We will move to you after.

Julia Feinberg, Juan Albanel, Charlotte Vimish.

Sorry if I said that incorrectly.

Chase Fowler, Christopher Kaplan, Emily Loper, 4205, High Noel, last four digits of the phone number 1429.

Again, Oakland Rising, last four digits of the phone number 1822, Susan Sagal, Matthew Shepard, George Watson, Abigail Ilan, Rakeem Naylor, Nick Carter, Ray, it might be Lewis from Urban Peace Movement, Andrew Gross, Cholito, Greg Slaughter, Carlos Tuna, Stanley Cooper, Dante, Altamiro, Stephanie Tran, Ori Lowinger, Ramesh Sheridaran, Andy Ghee, Samantha Kanofsky, David Shore.

So that had to be the coolest entrance I've ever seen in City Hall here coming up on the scooter.

Well, his legs are too short to walk from the bus, so please proceed.

All right, my name is Emily Coogan from District One.

This is Effine.

All right.

So a lot of your constituents are against this who were hanging up on that poll.

Yeah, what do you say, Athena?

Um, uh Athena's waited a long time, even if he doesn't know what to say right now.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

My name is Rock Keem Naylor, and I'm here on behalf of the Urban Peace Movement.

Flock is making temporary fixes, not permanent solutions.

Instead of installing cameras, install wealth into our youth and to the broken bumpy roads we walk on every single day.

Install healthy foods into our children's schools.

Instead of the public, you rather not clean up the public with your 2.5 million dollars.

You will not rather put preventatives, you rather put the probers of privacy.

OPD, do you care for us, the people?

OPD, do you care for more of the cameras?

OPD make more jobs, not jails.

Get the flock out of Oakland, get the flock out of Oakland.

Us the people want flock out of Oakland.

Change will never make change.

How was your lunch?

My name is Cheney Turner, uh represent District 7, also uh Oakland Rising.

I'm really disappointed that we are here again today.

Um, how are we supposed to trust this body?

When you all continuously, well, majority, continuously to portray constituents.

K Houston fell asleep last at the last meeting here, eating lunch since October, majority of community has asked you all to reject it.

Flock was rejected by the Privacy Advisory Commission.

Flock was rejected by public safety committee.

Flock was rejected by loss by rules and legislation.

But yet, again, we are still here.

Who does the Oakland City Council serve?

Berkeley, Piedmont, out of state investors and keyboard, MAGA racist.

Why are majority of you still pushing this item?

Are you afraid to be recalled by them?

Thank you, Cheney.

Your time is up.

Cheney, your time is up.

Cheney, your time is up.

Hello.

Uh my name is David Shore.

I'm a D1 resident.

Um, and I'm a member of the Bay Area Jews for Justice.

Uh, we also had other members, including Samantha Kanofsky, who was here earlier.

Uh, she couldn't make it, but I don't need her time.

Essentially, we're here to oppose this flock contract.

Our organization is made up of hundreds of Oakland Jews, including a ton in district one of uh Oakland, and we'd love to follow up with you.

Councilman Unger about this.

Um, we are committed to standing alongside our immigrant neighbors uh in this community coalition who's been here today who came out with almost no notice uh for one o'clock on a Tuesday, as all of them have talked about.

Um, we want to give everything we can to support uh these communities who are under attack from ICE and other federal officials.

They should not be under attack by our own city, they should not be attack under attack by our own city's police department.

Um it is beyond disappointing to see our city doing anything to put these communities at risk and not doing everything we can to stand against them and against these federal officials, especially as we are a sanctuary city.

Uh I hope that you can give us a Hanukkah miracle by voting.

All right, good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Stephanie Tran, president of the Oakland, Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.

I'm here speaking on behalf of over 300 business members in a wide range of industries.

Public safety is urgent for our small businesses, residents, and visitors.

Many of our businesses are minority and or immigrant-owned, and safety directly impacts whether these businesses can stay open, whether employees can feel secure at work and customers can feel confident coming back to shop and dine.

The Oakland, Chinatown Chamber of Commerce operates over 50 cameras throughout Chinatown.

These community-led systems have supported over a hundred cases of investigations, from robberies to arson, car accidents, theft, break-ins, and homicide.

Cameras have been a tool of safety and is especially needed at a time when we are facing a staffing, police staffing shortage.

Responsible use of camera system must also be guided by clear and responsible rules.

So we urge council to support the adoption of the OPD camera use policy and implementation to safeguard around the use of technology.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Dante Altamirano.

I'm from District 3.

Too many crimes in Oakland go unresolved because there's not enough evidence to hold offenders accountable.

When cases cannot be proven, repeat offenders face no consequences, and law-abiding residents suffer.

Flock cameras are a limited practical tool that establish facts and accountability without targeting innocent people.

Council member Fife!

I am speaking to you as a district three constituent, and you're chilling over there.

And on behalf of the majority of Oaklanders, 67% of residents support the uh police and more police presence.

If not for me, then do it for Brock and Brown residents who are disproportionately victims of violent crime and often denied justice.

Do it for the Asian small business owners who are repeatedly burglarized without accountability.

Do it for the elderly neighbors who are afraid to leave their homes because of the risk of violence.

These communities deserve safety, evidence, and justice.

Flock hammers are a necessary step towards putting Oakland first.

I believe in putting America first.

Thank you, sir.

Your time is up.

Please stop order in the chamber.

Order in the chamber, please stop jury.

Hello, my name is Ramesh Sridharan.

By way of introduction, I hold a PhD in computer science from MIT.

I teach data science at UC Berkeley, and I've worked in the technology, AI, and software industry for about 10 years.

So I teach my students about what when X causes Y.

If any of my students tried to do what OPD did and show a graph like that with the trend line and say this caused that, without thinking about the other causes like ceasefire, I would give them a failing grade instantly.

This is not acceptable.

Anytime you have that much data in one place, there is always the temptation for actors to use it for other purposes.

We heard about Texas, where cops could search data about women who had abortions.

We have seen reporting from the SF standard that OPD, in violation of state law accessed data on behalf of federal agencies like ICE.

This is not acceptable.

We've also seen from security researchers that this kind of information can be hacked from flock cameras.

In conclusion, please reject Flock.

Hi, my name is Susan Siegel.

Um, in an email exchange, I recently sent Zach or referred Zach Hunger to an excellent article that was in the November issue of Street Spirit, which debunked a lot of the claims Flock makes about how it reduces crime and exposed many of the ways that it has been misused in the ways that a lot of people have talked about.

So I would urge everybody to check out that article.

It was great.

The man who spoke on behalf of the police department presenting Flock earlier, while well-meaning, I think was extremely naive when he talked about the highly unlikely possibility that the federal government would try to access any of this.

Given our current federal government, this is extremely likely.

I also just the other day got another notice about a breach.

Hello, uh, my name is Alex.

Uh, myself and several comrades who will speak after me have prepared a collective statement to share today.

We are a group of residents from all over Oakland, united in our understanding that flock technology poses grave dangers to our community.

Let there be no doubt why we are standing here today.

It's because some of you have already lined your pockets with big tech money and decided to sell us out to fascism and mass surveillance.

Despite our very own privacy advisory commission's recommendation against Flock proposal, despite it not passing through the public safety committee, and despite the huge and undeniable outpouring of community opposition rooted in well-documented facts and evidence concerning the harms and failures of this technology, you are still considering partnering with a company that has aligned itself with fascists in no uncertain terms.

We are going to walk you through these details once more for the record.

We want you to know that Oakland is watching each and every one of your votes today, and we won't forget who you side with.

The people of Oakland or Big My name is Claire Repnow.

I'm in District One.

Um, in a time when politicians across the country are being voted out for being soft on fascism.

You too should be prepared to pay the political price.

You have already heard from over a hundred members of the public, including privacy experts, immigration advocates, teachers, lawyers, tech workers, parents, small business owners, students, and many others about the numerous dangers of Flock.

We don't need to go into every detail, but we do want to highlight the timeline of Flock's expansion that shows just how rotten to the core Oakland's collaboration with Flock is.

In 2024, you quietly approved an agreement with CHP and Flock without public input.

Even though privacy advocates like EEFF, ACLU, and your own privacy advisory commission members were already raising flags about potential issues of these.

Over 200 times violating state and city laws.

Later that month, those concerns were brought to the Privacy Advisory Commission both by the public and by Commission members when OPD brought forward a proposal to expand the network.

OPD and Flock promised you that everything was okay, lying through their teeth.

In August, Congress members Krishna Morthy and Garcia, members of the House Oversight Committee launched a formal investigation into Flock Group Inc.

over its role in enabling invasive surveillance practices that threaten the privacy, safety, and civil liberties of women, immigrants, and other vulnerable Americans.

At the same time, it came to light that Flock had launched a secretive pilot program giving border patrol access to 80,000 Flock.

Lou O, District 1.

At the same time, it came to light that Flock had launched a secretive pilot program giving border patrol access to 80,000 flock cameras nationwide, sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the local police departments.

In September, in response to public pressure led by Berkeley Cop Watch and immigrant rights advocates, the city manager pulled Berkeley's proposed flock expansion plan and has not re-introduced it since.

In October, Oakland's privacy advisory commission rejected the OPD proposal by a vote of four to two, explicitly saying that Flock could not be trusted to keep Oaklanders' data safe.

Also at this time, the Berkeley Public Safety Committee discovered that BPD had attempted to cover up the fact that, quote, an external agency had searched ALPR data for the purposes of federal immigration enforcement.

Later that month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the city of El Cajon over its sharing of license plate data with federal and out-of-state law enforcement agencies.

In November, the Electronic Frontier Foundation published data showing that Flock was used for hundreds of searches related to the 5501 protests in February, the hands-off protests in April.

Hi, G.

Riz.

Uh, in November, the Electronic Frontier Foundation published data showing the Flock was used for hundreds of searches related to the 5501 protests in February, the hands-off protests in April, the No Kings protests in June and October, and other protests in between.

Associated Press published a separate report that the U.S.

Border Patrol is monitoring millions of Americans drivers national nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.

Through Flock alone, Border Patrol had access to at least 1,600 license plate readers across 22 states and some counties have reported looking up license plates on behalf of CBP, including California.

Accordingly, both police chiefs in Capitola and Santa Cruz reported that they had unintentionally shared camera data out of state.

From June 2024 to October 2025, 32 law enforcement agencies performed.

Also in November, tech expert Ben Jordan published a 40-minute expose showing just how easy it is for hackers to get the sensitive data stored on a flock camera.

Included in this video are photos pulled from the hardware showing the cameras, which shouldn't trigger on anything but cars, have loaded images of people in the factories where they were assembled.

This same month, lawmakers also called on the Federal Trade Commission, FTC, to investigate Flock for allegedly not enforcing multi-factor authentication MFA in violation of federal law.

This demand comes as reporters have noted Flock accounts for sale on a Russian cybercrime forum.

Multiple instances of flock-related credentials for government users and infostealer infections, potentially providing hackers and other third parties with access to at least parts of Flock's surveillance network.

More locally, the ACOU and Electronic Frontier Foundation are suing San Jose, claiming that the city's nearly 500 flock cameras create a pervasive database of resident movements in a surveillance network that is essentially impossible to avoid.

Seeing the same pattern we have just laid out for you, over 20 cities across the country have now canceled their contracts with Flock.

In Oregon, Arizona, Texas, Illinois to Massachusetts.

My name is O uh District 1.

Raising alarm after alarm on the harms and dangers of Flock.

Many more, including Richmond just north of here, have paused the use of the cameras as they investigate potential abuses.

For a moment, let's hear from the legislators and officials themselves from the cities that have canceled the contracts.

From Council Member Scott Bauer, Eureka California, quote, it's hard to support this tool when there's so much concern from all of us, frankly, end quote.

Flock contract terminated February 2025.

From Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Janulius, quote, the reality is that we are dealing with powerful surveillance technology, and it has been abused, which is extremely troubling, especially as it violates the law, end quote.

Evanson Illinois flock contract terminated August 2025.

From city council member Derek Eater, Oak Park, Illinois, quote, according to our own civilian police oversight commission in Oak Park, over 99% of flock alerts do not result in any police action.

While Flock's marketing emphasizes success stories, the company has been unwilling or unable to provide meaningful independent.

Hi, I'm Annam from District 3.

And um, to end the previous uh statement, flock contract was terminated in August of 2025 in Oak Park, Illinois.

Um, from Councilmember Melissa Dunn in Sedona, Arizona, quote, at this point in our history, the only way for us to make sure that data is not broadly shared or abused is to not have any.

So therefore I agree.

We need to cancel the contract.

We need to remove the cameras.

The Flock contract was terminated in September 2025.

From Eugene Oregon Police Department, the department has identified vulnerabilities and limitations that raise concerns about the system's ability to meet the EPD's operational needs, data security requirements, and community expectations.

After further evaluation and internal discussion, the department has decided to discontinue the contract.

Flock contract terminated December 2025.

And um, thank you.

Navi District 5.

So now you two are presented with the opportunity to legally terminate Oakland's relationship with Flock.

None of the cities above that we've listed have seen crime rates spike since ending their contracts.

None of them have gone back because there's no evidence that Flock has helped them in the first place.

In the midst of this all, you still choose to bring this vote to a midday meeting with less than a week's notice.

While numerous cities have taken a stand against Flock, what have the council people here been doing?

Backroom deals, covering their asses, and hiding from constituents.

Last week, on December 11th, 2025, during the rules and legislation committee meeting committee meeting, council members made several Brown Act and Local Ordinance violations in an effort to sidestep the overwhelming community outpouring of concerns.

At the meeting, Kevin Jenkins acknowledged the presence of Councilmember Houston, asking him whether he was participating in this meeting, as doing so would violate public participation laws.

When affirming, Jenkins made a motion to adjourn and enter into a special meeting due to presence of Houston, which still breaks the required 48 hour notice for a special public meeting and agenda.

Willow district five.

Houston, along with the representatives from Councilmember Wang and Councilmember Unger's office, proceeded to lobby peers to move the flock contract agenda item to full council.

Houston stated that he, quote, needs that vote and thanked Councilmember Jenkins for bringing this item to the agenda again, despite the fact that Councilmember Jenkins repeatedly reassured the public at the previous rules committee meeting that this would have to go back to public safety before it comes to council.

This lack of transparency and clear disregard for public participation is consistent with Houston's previous revelatory blunder at the public safety committee meeting on November 18th when he stated during the deliberation that, quote, it's going to be hashed out no matter what, because if we've got three votes to one, it's not for it.

It's going to go on non-consent anyways.

Today you have also brought to the table amendments to council rules to make it harder for working people to attend and are rewriting campaign finance rules so that you can get more money to line your pockets.

Thank you.

What we are witnessing in the city council with Flock with the past time, please state your name before you begin.

Can you use a restart our time, Teresa?

What we are witnessing in the City Council with Flock with the encampment abatement plan with changes to city council rules is procedural gamanship at best.

But it feels more honestly like a complete disdain and disregard for the community and their rights to public participation protections enshrined in California and Oakland laws.

In 2025, the Oakland government has lost the trust of the people.

Corruption, bribery, one scandal after another, and a failure to meet the most basic needs of the people has disillusioned Oaklanders all over.

In some of your districts, Ken Houston's in particular, less than 20% of registered voters turned out.

In fact, he only got a total of 6,300 votes, but somehow spent $60,000.

How the fuck does that make sense?

Except for the clear and obvious answer in front of us.

You were bought and paid for some slimy creep from San Leandro with tech money.

This lack of public buy-in to politics has emboldened some of you to push outrageous policies, like Flock, like the EAP, sometimes illegally, always without public consideration.

Hi, I'm Nick.

This lack of public buy-in to politics has emboldened some of you to push outrageous policies like Flock, like the EAP, sometimes illegally, always without public consideration.

Opportunistically, many have capitalized on this with crime wave narratives used to increase policing.

The same crime wave narrative that Trump is using to justify National Guard deployments.

Well, we are here to tell you that we are not just naively hoping to change your minds or appeal to your authority.

We want to hold up a mirror that you cannot ignore.

Our goal has been to force you on the record in no uncertain terms to state whether you are more interested in serving the interests of big tech and fascist dictators than the people of Oakland.

One last time, so we are completely clear.

Flock is one of the major tools that a fascist federal government is using to create a mass dragnet surveillance network that can track the movements of individuals seamlessly and indiscriminately.

However, this surveillance network is also increasingly being used to criminalize all forms of dissent.

We do not know the extent to which this fascist government plans to crack down, but when it does, it will do so using flock as its eyes and ears.

By voting to keep these cameras up, you will be directly complicit in what happens next.

We are here to remind you that there are still some lines you should still be afraid to cross.

You may have had the luxury of a lack of scrutiny for a while, but people are starting to wake up.

Politicians across the country are being voted out for being soft on fascism.

You too should prepare to pay for to pay a political price.

We will not forget the ways in which this body has consistently sidelined the public and muzzled our voices.

We will not forget that you are making it a crime to be homeless.

We will not forget that when ICE detained a family in East Oakland this summer, you did nothing.

We will not forget that when ICE came to Oakland in October and three people were shot at Coast Guard Island, you did nothing.

We will not forget that when ICE agents targeted a man dropping off his grandchild at school in November, you with the exception of Fife did nothing.

The power of this city has always been with the people.

This intimidate intimidation.

No quiero que me ciudades.

Los derechos civiles.

For favor.

My name is Carlos Tuna, and I live in District 5, and I'm an ACE member.

The peaceful protest uh for peaceful protesters, mass surveillance chills free speech.

License plate readers and camera networks have been used across the country to monitor unlawful demonstr uh lawful demonstrations, identifying participants, and retaliate against people to exercise their constitutional right.

This is not public safety, it's intimidation.

As an Oaklander, I don't want my city to track, target, and endanger my neighbors.

We are a sanctuary city, and that protects civil rights.

So we ask you to please reject this contract now.

My name is Gregory Slaughter.

I am the chief steward of uh Ace Oakland.

I live in District 7.

For immigration for immigrant communities, systems like Flock have been used to track people for deportation, even in a sanctuary city like Oakland.

Should not have to be feared that driving to work, school, church could feed data into a nationwide system.

Okay.

I'm in your district, right?

I have a situation going on.

I sent you an email.

I really want you to read it.

We need to get with you before the end of this month about one of your buildings.

You have been there twice.

Okay.

You get a chance, you come over there and I'll tell you in private what uh street is on.

But you really need to get there.

Yesterday, I left a lady that was in tears because her grandkids cannot come visit her at this building.

Matthew Shepard, District 1, no on flock.

I'd like to thank the council for getting me to speak at my first meeting, council meeting because of this BS.

I'm new to this.

How often does it take something to get voted no on before it goes away?

Many statistics have been shared today where we look at charts easily explainable by COVID effects.

If we look at the FBI crime data during the years of 17 to 24, it has the same shape.

Low peak and then decline.

Are we saying surveillance systems are the to thank for US wide decrease since 24?

Here's a hint.

No, they're not.

Statistics are funny.

They can be used in ways to support reject claims, they can be biased.

So without statistics, what are we left with?

Decisions being made from a place of fear at the cost of our rights.

It's a bad investment.

It's taking money that should be put into prevention, which has a far higher return per dollar.

That's from the Brookings Institute.

What do they know, right?

Let's be radical.

Let's get to the root.

Vivian from uh District 2, and I'm here to speak out on behalf of myself and 10 employees of the city of Oakland that could not be here today in opposition to Flock cameras.

Flock has lost contracts with cities included, including Austin, Texas, Denver, Colorado, Oak Park, Illinois, and Sedona, Arizona, because of its unscrupulousness and incompetence.

These cameras can be hacked in 30 seconds, and there's been no conclusive study without cherry pick data that shows that they do in fact reduce or prevent crime.

Flock audit logs obtained through a Colorado Open Records Act showed that Denver's flock data was searched on behalf of ICE over 1400 times in the year beginning June 2024.

Um, see.

Police are abusing the access that Flock provides.

There have been reports of police using these cameras to stalk ex-girlfriends and improperly sharing data with federal agencies and providing vote bogus reasons for searching databases.

Thank you, Vivian, your time is up.

Andrew Gross, District One.

This, speaking against, this is a deeply unserious solution, non-solution to an actual problem.

And I think it's pretty clear that you are unmoved by the bulk of public outrage over it.

So I see us as being here today to plant firmly in the record that when this increases the, when this harms the public safety of Oaklanders, that we have a better chance at holding you accountable in the next election.

And lastly, I just want to point out that 2.3 million dollars is the annual budget for Oakland's administration of economic development and workforce development.

How is it that we have 2.25 million dollars to spend on an ineffective solution to make us all less safe, but we don't have the money for things that actually make us more safe.

This is deeply unserious, and we expect a lot more from you.

My name is Ray, and I'm a representative of the urban peace movement.

And I'm another person here too.

I'm another person that is here opposing uh Flock.

You guys have heard so many things tonight, there's barely anything that I can say.

However, a vast majority of us in this room and at home can agree that a system in place that is being used for more than its intended function, should not be here.

I am a native of Oakland, California.

We are currently in Oakland, California.

This is home to the Black Panther Party that has shown that when you believe in a community, the community does great things.

Now and forever, the people will always have the power.

Please do not forget that.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Sochi, District 5, currently still working District 5.

Oakland raised me from deep east Oakland to the Fruitville.

And I must say that I've seen a lot of investments that were short-sighted that had to be pulled in the past.

And I don't want today in a time where budget constraints are an issue for us to make an investment that makes really poor decisions.

As we organize with youth with frontline catalyst, we talk about systems of community care.

And I wish you were all there at our youth summit, where the youth are understanding the concepts of street lighting is important for safety.

Understanding that investment in community development is for safety.

Understanding that community policing in a way that is really restructured in a way that really is rooted in community from community voice is a way for safety.

It's not flock, it's not this short-sightedness that somehow or another has grasped you.

We are amongst times and policies.

Thank you, Sochi.

Your time is up.

Hello.

I'm really upset to be here again, and I'm really confused on how this ended up on the agenda yet again after you've heard from multiple constituents, hundreds of people, how they feel exactly about this issue.

Flock cameras do not keep us safe, cameras do not keep us safe.

And I refuse to believe as educated and smart and qualified as you all are that you have not heard all of your constituents tell you and done your own research to realize that this is not a good idea for Oakland.

If you really care about your constituents, if you really care about the people who make Oakland what it is, you know what the correct choice is.

And I just ask that all of you really look internally and understand why you make the choices that you make when you vote on this.

What are you hoping to gain in this time where our neighbors are getting picked up off the street, they're being stolen, families are being torn apart, people are dying.

There's an attack on our people.

You feel this, you know this.

So ask yourself what is more important to you right now.

Is it money or is it your people?

Is it your dignity?

Is it your soul?

Thank you guys so much.

I hope you make the correct choice.

Thank you for your comments.

Moving to the speakers in the Zoom queue.

Thank you for your applause.

If we can give the speakers and the Zoom queue the same respect so they can get through their comments as well.

Moving to the Zoom queue, starting with Asada Olabala, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Uh thank you, Madam Clerk.

Uh it's interesting how we get this uh overwhelming uh participation.

And when we have the NSA for 22 years, little of the public shows up to deal with the police excessive force, uh racial profiling of African Americans.

I'm also concerned with this position on Sanctuary City when you have collected no evidence related to immigrant status in your city, and so there is no way to identify anything related to immigrants.

You have in this city immigrants who are criminals, you have illegal immigrants who are part of the cartel, the MS-13, the Mexican mafia, the uh mafia of the prison system, and we don't have any ability to deal with it.

I support the flood cameras, uh, but I'm so disappointed that the African Americans who have spoken don't impact how African Americans are impacted with these.

Thank you.

Moving to the next speaker, Nita, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Hello, I am a resident of Oakland tax-paying homeowning resident, um, living on a looney land that was once genocided by colonizers.

I spoke to my council member about this situation, and they asked me a really good question.

They asked me where were you in the collective sense two years ago when this was first coming up for vote?

Well, council members, that was a great question.

Where I was, uh uh, along with all those people in that room, and along with all Oakland residents in their homes, whether they know this meeting is happening or not, where we were, we're trusting that you would make decisions that would protect us from mass surveillance from this fascist government.

It might not be happening now, but it will come in the future.

And you are meant to protect us and not sell us to the highest bidder.

Thank you for your comments, Emily Looper.

You are next.

Hi, good afternoon.

I'm Emily, D4 resident calling in strong support of approving this flock contract.

As you know, Oakland residents have been very concerned about their basic safety over the past few years.

Many families in my neighborhood have considered leaving the city or have left because of that.

This technology is a proven tool in helping the city to fight crime, both solving crimes and deterring them in the first place.

The presentation clearly showed that this technology directly improves public safety while handling the data responsibly.

As you've heard, polling clearly shows that two-thirds of residents favor using these cameras to improve safety in our city.

So I urge you to please represent the vast majority of residents who support this and approve this contract.

Thanks very much.

Thank you for your comments.

Uh, Brian Colberson, you are next.

After Brian is Emily Wheeler.

Um, hi, my name is Brian Culbertson from D3.

Uh, Flock is a notoriously insecure camera company with multiple data breaches just this year.

They can be hacked with a simple button push.

If we're going to have cameras, then Oakland should do a competitive contract for a secure vendor that isn't being sued by the ACLU.

Like plate vendor, there's many out there.

Um, Illinois Secretary of State recently announced that Flock gave access to customs and border patrol, uh, triggering a wave of cities to cancel their flock contracts and choose different vendors.

Oakland should cancel their flock contracts just like the cities of San Marcos and Richmond, California, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Everston, Springfield, and Oak Park, Illinois, Eugene, Oregon, Austin, and Hayes County, Texas, Mountain Lake Terrace, Linwood, Stanwood, Redmond, and Olympia, Washington.

The list goes on.

They're being canceled all across the country right now due to this.

Cancel them here, too.

Emily Wheeler, you are next.

After Emily is Ralph Brown.

Emily.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Emily, we will come back to you.

Ralph Brown, you are next.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Give me Emily back.

Ralph Brown.

Ralph, we will come back to you.

Laura Hill, you are next.

Good evening.

My name is Laura Hill and I'm a vice president of public policy with the Bay Area Council.

We represent over 370 of the region's employers, including a coalition of 125 employers based in Oakland who are committed to building a safer and more vibrant city.

We strongly support this item and urge your approval today.

Technology is a vital public safety tool, and it is particularly critical for cities that are facing significant law enforcement staffing challenges.

Additionally, according to two recent voter polls, the vast majority of Oakland residents do, in fact, overwhelmingly support security camera networks.

The polling shows support across age, race, ethnicity, and ideology for visible cameras and ALPRs as tools to deter crime and make people feel safe.

ALPR technology has been proven to work and improve public safety in Oakland, and the city needs continued access to this technology to protect residents, businesses, and visitors.

Approving this contract will help the city deter crime and ultimately strengthen community safety and economic vitality.

Thank you so much.

Going back to Emily, Emily Wheeler, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Kenyon Bliss, you are next.

Please unmute yourself.

Yeah, my name is Key Bliss.

And apart from the suspicious timing around uh OPD raising its staffing uh level crisis and using Flock to supplement that, uh, this is actually a false choice.

Technology or staffing has never been interchangeable.

In reality, uh staffing actually like ALPR cameras generate leads but require officers to investigate them.

And OPDs reduced staffing means fewer investigators available to follow up on ALPR hits, which pre-peer-reviewed research suggests the effectiveness of this technology depends on having dedicated investigative units.

Creating that investigation capacity requires staffing, not cameras.

Even if ALPR increases leave, an apartment with 509 operational officers, only 10 of whom being investigators based on the public safety committee meeting, cannot process exponentially more cases.

So these arguments for Flock actually highlights the need to actually invest in people, not surveillance technology.

And rather than trying to displace human investment with technology, this council would actually be better off asking for thank you for your comments.

Charlotte Bismich, you are next.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Hello, my name is Charlotte.

I'm a D2 resident.

Here's a few quick questions.

What is a flock-related arrest?

How many of them led to any sort of conviction?

How many of those convictions relied on Flock data and couldn't have been reached any other way?

If it's such a great tool, why doesn't OPD have those numbers?

Are you really going to settle for a correlation?

Allow me to add my voice to the chorus of educators, telling you that's not how evidence works.

I feel like I'm losing it when the council talks about Flock without mentioning the larger context of fascist-aligned tech CEOs like Peter Thiel and Garrett Langley, making pretty damn clear they want to build a techno-feudalist future where challenging corporate power is impossible.

Thank you, Councilmember Fife, for raising the very important point that big tech is currently a writhing nest of Nazis obsessed with something called white genocide.

Where's the scrutiny?

Where's the due diligence?

How are we supposed to believe anything you say when you side with Kate Steele?

You are next.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Hi, Council members.

I'm Kate Steele, a D3 resident, and I urge the council to accept this proposal and do what San Francisco and other neighborhood cities have done.

Reduce crime by employing cameras and APLR technology.

San Francisco has dramatically reduced both violent and property crime rates.

As just reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, as the SFPD has said, word has spread among criminals deterring new ones from trying their luck.

Criminals know that if they come to San Francisco, we will hold them accountable.

Oakland must remain in the ranks of neighboring cities in deterring crime.

This city can and should address the privacy concerns raised with strict contract terms and rigorous oversight audits.

And I was at the No Kings protest, and I'm not afraid of AAPLR technology, and I will continue to go to those protests.

Thank you very much.

Hi, I'm Juan Albanel.

I'm an engineer with over a decade of security and safety experience, and I'm here for the third time to reject the expansion of Flock cameras.

Flock has demonstrated an abysmal track record of rushing outdated insecure systems to profit themselves and their billionaire stakeholders.

Even if I believe for a second that Flock is suddenly going to stop lying, experts have already demonstrated that their privacy systems are horrible and have already had multiple instances of data breaches, not just license plates, but extensive personal data.

They simply cannot and will not keep any of the prosmosis being made by OPD.

This is not misinformation, unlike the weak data and broken correlation OPD shared today.

We are backed by real studies and experts.

Our own privacy advisory commission voted against flock.

The ACLU is against Flock.

20 cities have already canceled their contracts because of this.

Secure Justice has sued Oakland to shut down the current Flock cameras.

And who's supporting this?

Corrupt council members, fascists, people who said that today they want the National Guard in our cities.

The right side has never been clear to me.

So again, I urge city council to vote no on Flock.

Thank you.

Raji Mandale, you are next after Rajni is Brenda Grisham.

Hi, Rajney Mandel.

I'm speaking today representing Oakland residents, voters, homeowners, and tenants, many of whom are present in chambers and who could not be there because of work, caregiving responsibilities, or safety concerns.

I'm not able to be there in person tonight because I needed to pick up my kids from school.

So I'll keep this brief out of respect of your time.

We're Oaklanders who care deeply about public safety and recognize the seriousness of our moment.

Our city is in, with staffing and patrol capacity under real strain, tools that operate under clear policy and oversight matter.

Our position is based on the materials in the agenda packet, the data, the use policy, and the reviews conducted by OPD, the city administrator, and the city attorney.

How council chooses to refine or amend this item is within your discretion.

We support moving this item forward and urge you to take action tonight to authorize the program as a measured step towards improving public safety in Oakland.

Thank you.

Hi, um, this is Brendan Grisham, a resident of District 5 and a business owner in District 2.

We are here again today because this is the organization that's actually listened to both sides, except for Carol Fife.

We know that there's not going to be a perfect system.

So what we want to do is use what we have.

You're not going to be happy with any other system.

It's going to be a problem with everything.

The point is we want to be safe.

We want to use what we have.

And for those of you that don't trust OPD and saying what OPD can and cannot do, they're hiring.

Why don't you guys apply?

Thank you.

Jennifer Two, you are next after Jennifer will be Sierra Warwick.

Jennifer.

We will come back to you, Sierra.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Hi, I have time seated to me from Linda Warwick.

Don't ask that.

Hello.

I'm sorry, say that again.

I have time seeded to me from Linda Warwick on Zoom.

Linda, can you confirm that you're giving your time to Sierra?

Yes, I am.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Sierra.

Thank you.

Um, I'm Sierra.

I'm from District 4.

I was born and raised in Oakland.

Um, I also want to speak specifically to Councilmember Ramashandran, who I actually canvassed for when she was seeking election.

Councilmember, I am deeply disappointed in your ambivalence and your failure to support accountability of the council.

We, as the people of Oakland said no to this uh flock expansion many, many times, and the fact that you are continuing to support it is just extremely disappointing to me.

And I will remember this when we are called on to be re-electing or electing somebody different who will actually hear our voices.

I also want to say that the folks who are continually pushing for flock, naively are trying to divide our community into these evil criminals versus innocent victims.

And at this time, especially in this like fascist federal government that we are in, I want to remind everyone, especially as a Jewish resident of District 4, that we are not it's not about criminals versus innocent victims.

Everyone can be a criminal depending on the policies in place.

We are talking about immigration, also protest, abortion rights, like somebody said, community organizing, also trans health care, which nothing nobody's mentioned yet.

We cannot have this mass surveillance in place and continuing to beef it up and give these tools to something that can be so easily manipulated.

I also want to say that crime happens because of poverty.

What world do we want?

Do we want one where we disinvest from social programs?

Because crime will go up if that is the case.

Crime will go up as we disinvest from programs that support the people, and as that goes on, people will continue to say that we need more surveillance, more and more surveillance.

Crime will go up regardless because we have nothing.

People have nothing.

So I urge you to vote no on this flock expansion.

Thank you.

Kelsey Hubbard, you are next.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Hi, my name is Kelsey.

Um, the report presented today did not demonstrate the efficacy of Flock whatsoever, and presenting an obscured half-truth data lacking report is very Trumpy, and so is nodding your head in blind allegiance to the billionaires.

My mom always told me that when someone shows you who you are, believe them.

We know who Trump, Peter Teal, and Flock are.

There are so many other vendor options to choose from.

Why would Oakland choose this one?

The only reason to choose this particular vendor is to sell out to Trump in big tech.

Wong, a former Biden Harris official.

Are you going to sell out to Trump Brown, a former educator who won a change maker of the year award?

Is this a change your students would be proud of?

Unger, a former firefighter who spent a career saving lives.

Will you put our immigrant community in extreme danger?

Rama Chandron, a daughter of immigrants.

Will you hand over our neighbors to ICE?

Look at the people who have been supporting Flock and those who are against it.

Whichever you choose is who Oakland will be.

We are about to find out who you are.

Please don't sell out.

Vote.

Thank you for your comments.

Carmen, you are next.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Carmen.

We will come back to you, Sanal.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Oh.

Hi, I'm Sonal, uh resident of D1, and I'm here to ask you once again to reject the proposed flock contract.

Community opposition to this contract is strong and is unmistakable, as you all have witnessed the last three times this was brought up.

And hundreds of us have continued to show up and speak before city council, urging you not to move forward and ignoring that level of public concern sends the wrong message.

Especially when those concerns center on privacy and accountability.

Flock and OPD assure us that safeguards are in place, but assurances are not guarantees.

Many things that make the point.

Thank you.

Chad with Spell, you are next.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Chadwick Spell.

Yes.

Go ahead.

My name is Patrick Spell, the chair of the board for Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce.

Oakland resident, homeowner.

We support the use of Flock and expansion, but we also understand there is no easy answer.

There is no easy fix.

We need public safety to have businesses, to have tax revenue, to have employees, to have people working to have jobs.

But at the same time, city council, you have a large job ahead of you.

We need to bring everyone together, regardless of what happens.

We need to make sure we hold everyone accountable.

The police department, ourselves that vote for this, the council, to where all the promises and accountability and reviews are not only what's posted, but even more to where we get what we want and accomplish what we need to, and nothing more.

Good luck.

Thank you for your comments.

Marcus Johnson, you are next after Marcus is Jennifer Finley.

Mr.

Johnson, please begin your comments.

Thank you.

I'm a uh my name is Marcus Johnson.

I'm a D3 resident as well as a West Oakland native, and I support Flock.

And I trust OPD based on the policies that they have put in place.

We have to be consistent with the neighboring cities and their use of Flock.

Uh, what's what's interesting is the fear-mongering and the meanness of some of the opposition.

But I also want to remind you that I am more concerned with personal devices, appliances, and the toll tag that actually takes pictures of everybody that's in your vehicle as well as your license plate.

Thank you for your uh allowing me to speak.

Jennifer, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Absolutely not on Flock.

I was looking for some information this morning and found a video from a man named Ben Jordan called Wehack Flock safety cameras in under 30 seconds.

It was a very detailed 45-minute report with more tech than I understand.

And he said that he had informally consulted about these things with Oakland City Council.

So I would love through the chair to hear more about those meetings and who is in them and what you learned.

Um, some of his findings include that these cameras run on a version of Android that has not been updated, um, that is no longer serviced, that's not been updated, has no security patches since 2021, has 900 plus known security risks.

He also talks about flock accounts being for sale.

They are selling accounts, they are selling this access.

There is far more tech that I could understand.

What better demonstration of the imperial boomerang than a former APAC employee selling their surveillance?

Josephine Guzman, you are next.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Hello, Josephine Guzman, public policy manager for the Oakland Metro Chamber.

Oh.

Am I still there?

Yes.

Okay, great.

Uh, the chamber is here to uh express strong support for the policy framework for the OPD surveillance use policy.

The chamber has long supported community-led camera networks across Oakland's business improvement districts.

Pioneering with downtown Chinatown, and others to support local businesses and establishing clear standards, but our support is grounded in the appointments of strong privacy protections.

These safeguards are essential to maintaining the public trust and ensuring technology is used appropriately.

We just want to continue to have that right balance between improving public safety and protecting privacy and community trust.

And we look forward to your continued collaboration on centering these community needs.

Thank you for your comments, Kevin Dally, you are next.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Hi, this is Kevin Daly from District 4.

Flock has been untrustworthy on privacy for a long time now.

Thanks to Councilmember Five for being strong and standing against Flock.

Let's look at elsewhere for our cameras.

We can do it.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Going back through.

Emily Wheeler, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Emily, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Leanne Alameda, did you submit a card?

If so, under what name?

I did under my name.

I don't have a card for Leanne Alameda at this time.

Ralph M.

Brown, trying again, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Yeah, just to call in the oppose Flock for namely the fact that the contract language doesn't actually protect against or prohibit Flock access uh ice access.

It only uh appears to like you know, encourages to limit it.

But uh just want to call out.

I know that majority of council members really aren't listening right now, uh, because majority of you have been bribed, uh, not only by the Oakland Police Officers Association, but also uh Astro Turf organizations like Empower Oakland and the Abundance Network as well as all of these Chamber of Comments uh commerce uh representatives.

But um wanna give a big shout out to Ken Houston.

Uh, do you think we don't didn't notice you flipping off the audience uh from your seat just now?

Do you think that we don't know that you've been violating the Brown Act from the Public Safety Committee to this very committee where you gave up the game and then forced Brown to actually cover her ass and vote against it?

You think we don't carmen trying again?

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Let me just run through the Zoom users quickly first.

Emily Wheeler.

Rob, did you submit a card?

If so, under what name?

No, I did not have time to submit a card.

Jack London Improvement.

What name did you submit your card under?

Uh self, uh Sublinehauser, Jack London Improvement District.

Did you submit a card under a name?

I don't have a card under that.

No, I'm just participating through Zoom.

And you do have to submit a card to participate in the meeting.

Manny Picole.

Did you submit a card?

If so, under what name?

I believe I submitted a card under Amanda Popel.

Do not have a card under that name.

Emily Wheeler, last chance.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

I have two.

Yes.

Hello.

Uh my name is Emily Wheeler.

I'm resident of District 2.

Um, I am here to oppose the flock contract.

Um I'm sure you have heard many, many good reasons to the contract from the fact that despite what OPD is claiming, Block has a demonstrated history of collaborating with ICE and releasing information to the government from the known security issues.

From the fact that, although you cannot prove a negative, there is ample evidence to show that there block does not reduce crime.

Um many cities that have implemented flock contracts have then chosen to cut ties with this company.

If you want to have some weird surveillance network, you can contract with a different company.

That isn't quite so insane.

It's very easy.

But the thing I wanted to, and my comment with is that I know a lot of you city council members, you ran on this progressive platform, but then you immediately pivoted to uh prioritizing your big money donors living in the hills or not in Oakland.

That works for thank you, Ms.

Wheeler, for your comments.

Carmen.

Please approach the podium.

Trae much prejuicios for las familias, mas que para las personas can committed or tienen un delito, realmente.

Por eso los invito a que realmente lo considering, este no es el tiempo que realmente sería beneficioso para una communidad.

Gracias.

Hello, my name is Carmen Salazar.

Um, at one point I was in favor of this measure because I have been a victim.

Um, but in the time that we are right now, this would just create so much more prejudices for people who are innocent.

Um, it would just enable the surveillance of those persons.

Um, we are not in the time that this is that we should be doing this in.

And if this is um an investment for you, then you can do it in another way and not at this time, where it will just create more problems for innocent families.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So thank you to everyone who came out and speak spoke.

142 people, 145 people uh interested in this topic, and uh we're grateful for every single one of the people that came.

With that, I will open it up to council members for comments, not all at once.

Council member comments, council member Houston.

Um thank you, Chair.

Um, we have constantly been trying to get the trying to get food by this eighteen percent of individuals, and the vast majority of Oakland wants this, and I say about eighty-two percent.

You heard the lady say what two-thirds of it.

Um with that being said, um, I know we have eight minutes each as council members to speak, correct?

That's rule eleven states that each council member gets eight minutes on um non-consent items.

So, what I like to do is I did a video across all the districts about the individuals that aren't here that could is queued up right now by K-Top, and I have eight minutes to speak.

So please proceed.

And I like to know which council members can donate five minutes to me or eight minutes to me, so I can play this video.

So it's K-topp should have that cued up for me.

This is false, right?

And um I have this, so who council member would like to donate?

So why don't you start your video and then I will count?

Can you start my video, please?

K-Top.

Ever been caught for pipping?

Yes, sir.

Well, this is having the caught have been made of trigunal due to like no camera footage.

The flock camera system.

Yes.

The police credited a network of cameras in helping them arrest a suspect within 24 hours of the Laney College shooting.

And now there's a push to expand the city's flock camera system as a tool to help track down suspects and solve crimes.

The Oakland branch of the NAACP supported the proposed expansion.

Until Oakland can find a fully staffed police department, the city council must seriously consider the use of cameras to ensure public safety.

Hi, my name is Sas Stewart, and I am a resident and business owner of District 3.

I support the flock cameras.

Please, please approve the cameras.

Thank you, City Council, for keeping me and our community safe.

Yeah, my name is Wing Chan.

I represent entire town.

See them permanently.

Hi, I'm Willie Lincoln.

I'm a voter in District 6, and I'm all for more flock cameras.

City Council, please rule in our favor.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Tracy Aquas and I live in district three.

I would like to please urge City Council to approve the flock cameras.

Um I thank you in advance for taking consideration to this matter.

I am a business owner in Little Sango in Oakland.

My business gotta be robbed too many times.

We need more safety.

I need more fluff cameras for our safety for our communities.

Please have our support.

Thank you.

Thank you for keeping us safe, City Council.

Thank you for keeping us safe, City Council.

Hello, my name is Angel Low, and I'm a resident of Oakland, California.

I support the flock cameras.

City Council, please approve the cameras and keep our streets safe in Oakland, California.

Flock security cameras are absolutely needed in Oakland.

We have to protect the citizens.

We have to protect the small business owners.

They need to have flock security cameras.

My name is Chris Kwan.

I live in District 6.

I was born in Oakland and I've lived in Oakland for most of my life.

We support more flock cameras.

Thank you, City Council, for keeping our community safe.

My name is Cody Ann, and my family owns a small business, and we would like to support the flock cameras in the city of Oakland to protect its residents and its businesses.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Penelope Davis, and I'm an Oakland resident in District 1.

I encourage the city council members to add more flock cameras to Oakland.

And City Council members, thank you for your work.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Ubalda Acosta, and I live in District 3 and I support the cameras.

So we asked to uh City Council to approve the cameras, please.

My name is Kim and I'm a resident of District 5.

When my car window was smashed with myself and my two-year-old in it, there was nothing that the police could do, even though there were videos of it.

Please use flock and more technology to make Oakland safer.

So my name is Taco.

I work in District 5.

We want more flock cameras.

Thank you, City Council for putting us in sight.

Thank you.

We've had um three break-ins uh into our house.

I got in a fight with someone in the backyard.

I had a break in my shop.

I live in Oakland, and uh we've talked to a bunch of police officers.

It really feels like the flock cameras are a great step in the right direction.

Um, and we would urge me and my family would urge you to please approve more usage of flock cameras so that we can find people who uh the police are aware of and um make a dent in some of the safety issues that are really plaguing all the the residents of Oakland.

Thank you so much and thanks for considering this.

My name is Tiffany.

I live in the Fruitville district, and I support the use of cameras, security cameras.

My name is Ali.

I witnessed I live in Oakland.

I witnessed three people shot, murdered in front of me, and I I feel that we need help.

We need to accept the CHP camera for our uh safety and the community safety.

My name is Morgan Solom from District 1, and I believe that flock security cameras are a critical tool to help our understaffed, overburdened police department do their jobs effectively.

Please increase the flock security cameras in Oakland to help keep everybody safe.

Hello, my name is Nayeli Alvaran.

I'm a registered voter and I live in District 6.

I support to have more cameras here in Oakland.

Thank you, City Council, for keeping us safe.

Hi, my name is Moises, owner and operator of East Bay Mufflers, local business, and I support the flock camera for District 5.

Okay, Tom, can you pause the video, please?

I live in District.

So, Councilmember, you have exceeded your time.

So, what I'd like to know is what other.

So I wanted to finish, because if they can come out deep, we can come out deep too.

And I wanted to find out.

Excuse me.

Let me finish what I'm saying.

Shut up.

Excuse me, Councilmember Houston, order in the chamber, please.

I want to find out if any other council member will see me or donate some time so I can finish up this video.

That's what I'm asking.

Council member, how much time is remaining on the video?

Excuse me.

Order in the chambers.

We'll start giving people warnings.

Probably nine more minutes.

You have nine more minutes?

Yes, I do.

Ha ha ha.

Excuse me.

So what I'm saying is this is this uh president.

Council member out of you.

Yeah, out of order.

That's your first warning.

Councilmember, I will give you four minutes of my time.

Okay.

One second.

Does anyone else does anyone else want to see time to Council Member Houston?

No.

Okay.

You have four minutes remaining.

Got a word.

Council, we really appreciate the efforts that you make to keep us safe and for that reason we're in support of flood cameras.

Thank you.

Uh I am Marco Maldonado.

I own a property at San Antonio District here in Oakland, and I support the safety cameras.

Okay, Tom.

Hi, I'm Anne.

Can you pause the video?

Councilmember Houston, do you want to speed up the time on the videos?

No.

Okay.

All right.

So there's three minutes and forty-five seconds remaining.

President, and I want to tell you thank you so much, City Council.

We need more flock cameras.

Hi.

Nothing happened.

And also we need it.

We need the cameras for sure.

My name is Oscar Martinez.

I'm a business owner in District 5, and I support flock cameras.

Hi, my name is Maria Sanchez.

I live in the District 5, and I have the council members.

So please keep the camera the floor cameras.

We really need the residents and merchant because it's a lot of length and the fruit and district.

I love Oakland.

And I love your support.

Please, thank you.

We need more flock safety cameras.

The city of Oakland has a manpower problem and any kind of technology that can leverage the manpower, the limited land manpower we have to help protect and serve the citizens of Oakland.

We need more of that.

So I support it 100%.

Hello, my name is Sylvia Fortinberry, and I am a lifelong resident of Oakland, currently living in District 6.

I am a strong supporter of adding additional flock cameras, as I believe they will help to keep our neighborhoods safer and more secure.

I would also like to thank the city council members for their hard work, their dedication, and their commitment to protecting Oakland.

Thank you.org.

We're 17 years in District 5 representing the fruit bell community.

Wanted to say that we want flock cameras, and thank you, City Council, for keeping our safety front of mind.

Hello, City Council.

This is Glenda Arevalo here.