California
Alameda County
On record
Checked 20 Aug 2026- Technologies
- 2
- Systems
- 3
- Devices mapped
- 1879
Alameda County, California. Device data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), with community reporting via DeFlock. Open the full map →
Alameda County has the densest concentration of local surveillance oversight law in California. Two of its cities run their own surveillance ordinances with mandated public reporting, and the county Sheriff files an annual military equipment report to the Board of Supervisors under state law.
The record that produces is real. The Sheriff’s drone deployments are counted each year, and the public asked about drone data retention at a hearing and got a revised policy in response. Berkeley publishes its camera counts, its contract dates and its approval history.
What that record also shows is how thin the attendance is. Two members of the public came to the Sheriff’s required annual meeting on military equipment in October 2025.
Three systems have pages here, covering the Sheriff’s plate readers and drones and Berkeley’s plate readers. Oakland, which has the oldest municipal privacy oversight commission in the state, is documented in commission packets we have retrieved and not yet read. Eleven of the county’s fourteen cities have not been examined at all, and no news or meeting archive has been swept.
What's in use here
More than a hundred Flock cameras across the unincorporated county since 2023. The county's own procurement papers describe them; the office's policy for them is not something we have read.
Fifty-two Flock cameras under a contract that expires in July 2026, approved through the city's own surveillance ordinance in 2023. A March 2026 council item asks to renew them alongside drones, fixed cameras and investigative software, all on the same vendor's contract.
The Sheriff's Office flew drones 756 times in a single reporting year, and asked the Board to buy a system that launches them from rooftops before deputies arrive. Two members of the public attended the meeting where the year's equipment report was discussed.
Who runs it
The agency is the accountability unit: who voted, whose policy applies, and who answers a records request.
| Agency | Jurisdiction | Systems |
|---|---|---|
| Alameda County Sheriff's Office | Alameda County | 2 |
| Berkeley Police Department | City of Berkeley | 1 |
| 2 agencies on record. A jointly run system counts against each of its operators, so this column is not a county total. | ||
Trackers
Meetings, contracts, records
Nothing listed yet. The trackers launch here, and facts appear only with their sources.
How the inventory works →What you can do
Civic action
Show up
Public comment is open to any resident, and you do not have to be an expert to use it. We have not yet confirmed where the bodies that decide for Alameda County meet. How the inventory works explains what we check and how to check it yourself.
How the inventory works →Personal protection
Protect yourself
Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.
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