- Oakland police received more than 1 million Flock camera alerts last year.
- Officers reportedly disabled stolen vehicle alerts because they couldn’t keep up.
- The situation raises questions about technology marketed as a force multiplier.
When police departments buy automated license plate reader systems, one of the biggest selling points is simple: technology can help officers do more with less. But in Oakland, California, officials say they encountered a different problem. The system generated so many alerts that officers couldn’t keep up.
According to a newly released Oakland Police Department report, the city’s Flock Safety camera network generated 1,099,837 hotlist alerts during 2025. More than 620,000 of them flagged stolen license plates. The numbers got so out of hand that Oakland police reportedly left alerts for stolen vehicles and plates switched off, because the department didn’t have the staffing or resources to actually respond to them.
Sold As A Force Multiplier…