Roseville anti-Flock forum highlights ALPR opposition beyond Elk Grove

Opposition to Flock surveillance cameras is finding an organizing foothold in Roseville, underscoring that concerns about automated license plate readers extend into the Sacramento region’s more conservative suburbs.

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Community members and advocates will gather Friday, Oct. 23, for a DeFlock Roseville forum at the Maidu Center. Scheduled from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., the event will address policing, public safety, surveillance, and accountability, according to a Wednesday announcement.

Organizers plan a presentation on policing, opportunities to engage with political candidates and a dedicated public comment period. Sean Frame, a candidate for California’s 6th Senate District, is expected to participate and other candidates may attend, according to the announcement.

The gathering brings the surveillance debate to a different political setting from Democratic-leaning Sacramento and Elk Grove. Roseville sits in Placer County, where Donald Trump received nearly 53% of the presidential vote in 2024.

Organizing there illustrates the geographic reach of opposition to license plate surveillance, although the announcement does not identify participants’ political affiliations.

The issue has brought together concerns that can cross partisan boundaries: government monitoring, personal privacy, police accountability, and outside agencies' ability to access information collected locally.

In Elk Grove, those concerns have sustained an organized campaign by DeFlock Elk Grove, whose members have urged residents to attend council meetings and demand the cameras' removal. The group also opposes replacing Flock equipment with automated license plate readers from another company, commonly called ALPRs.

Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen has not answered activists’ calls to remove the cameras. DeFlock Elk Grove previously reported that city officials had not responded to repeated requests to meet about its community audit.

Opposition continued at the Oct. 14 Elk Grove City Council meeting, where another resident challenged the city’s support for ALPR surveillance; neither the mayor nor council members responded to that speaker’s inquiry. At the council’s Aug. 26 meeting, 21 speakers opposed the surveillance system.

Elk Grove police have defended the technology as a public safety tool, citing its use in recovering stolen property and locating a missing woman with dementia. Police also have disputed allegations that their practices violate state law, saying policies, training and oversight protect privacy and constitutional rights.

For opponents, those examples leave unresolved questions about collecting and sharing information on people who are not suspected of crimes.

Friday’s Roseville forum gives residents another venue to raise those questions directly with candidates. Alongside the ongoing campaign in Elk Grove, it shows that resistance to ALPR surveillance is becoming a regional issue—one reaching communities with different political identities.