January 30, 2026
Mountain View’s Police Chief Mike Canfield made a stunning announcement today: the city is immediately suspending its entire Flock Safety camera system after discovering federal agencies illegally accessed local data.
“I no longer have confidence in the Flock system,” Chief Canfield stated.
According to the city’s investigation:
- Federal agencies including ATF, Air Force bases, and others accessed Mountain View’s data between August-November 2024
- Flock enabled a “nationwide search” setting without the city’s knowledge or permission
- This violated both Mountain View’s contract and California’s Senate Bill 34
Why this matters for Woodland:
Mountain View carefully negotiated their contract with Flock. They specifically included language prohibiting out-of-state data sharing. They worked closely with Flock during setup.
And they STILL discovered illegal federal access.
If Mountain View—with all their precautions—couldn’t trust Flock to follow California law, how can Woodland?
Woodland’s contract was just extended without adequate understanding and audit review. We need to ask: Has federal agencies accessed our data too?