Drivers sue California city over nearly 500 police cameras that track drivers across state

FIRST ON NBC NEWSTech NewsTech NewsDrivers sue San Jose over nearly 500 police cameras used to track drivers across the stateA class action lawsuit filed against San Jose and its police department Wednesday aims to require police to get warrants to track drivers.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Flock cameras in San Jose, Calif.Courtesy Institute for JusticeShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 15, 2026, 9:04 AM EDTBy Kevin CollierThree drivers in San Jose, California, filed a class action suit against the city and police department over the deployment of nearly 500 cameras operated by Flock Safety, a controversial surveillance tech company that uses AI and dedicated cameras to catalogue vehicles’ movements.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Organized by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian nonprofit law firm, the suit argues that the city’s use of the technology constitutes an unreasonable law enforcement search, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Pictures collected from the cameras are added to giant searchable databases that use AI to help law enforcement easily identify when and where particular vehicles have traveled.Flock offers a wide range of surveillance technologies to law enforcement agencies, governments, private companies and homeowners associations, but it is best known for its nationwide fleet of Automatic Licence Plate Cameras (ALPRs), which are mounted by prominent roads to record which vehicles go by and when.Unlike other ALPR companies, Flock offers its customers the chance to share access locally, statewide or across the country. Its databases can be accessed without warrants by officials at participating law enforcement departments. San Jose shares its Flock data with hundreds of other law enforcement agencies in California, but not nationwide. According to a transparency website operated by Flock, the San Jose Police Department has 474 camer...