Santa Cruz County Sheriff | Camera registry
The county's alarm-registration portal, run by CryWolf Services, carries a video surveillance registration category. The 2023 civil grand jury reported that "the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office reports no use of this video registry for surveillance," and the Sheriff answered that registering "does not provide the Sheriff's Office with any remote access."
At a glance
- What the grand jury described
- A video surveillance registration category on the county's CryWolf alarm portal [1]
- Vendor contract
- The county "approved a vendor contract for services on September 15, 2021" with "CryWolf Services, part of a Florida based for-profit company called CentralSquare", per the grand jury [1]
- Ring Neighbors
- The grand jury reported that the Sheriff's Office participates in Amazon Ring's Neighbors Public Safety Service, and its finding F1 describes the use as minimal [1]
- Addresses registered
- no count appears in the grand jury report or in any other record we fetched [1]
- How footage is requested
- not described in the records we fetched
- Written policy for the registry
- we did not find one in the records we fetched
- The contract itself
- not in the records we fetched; the date and the vendor come from the grand jury report [1]
How it happened
- Procurement
County contracts with CryWolf Services
The 2023 civil grand jury reports that the county "approved a vendor contract for services on September 15, 2021" with "CryWolf Services, part of a Florida based for-profit company called CentralSquare." [1]
- Coverage
Civil grand jury publishes "Surveillance State in Santa Cruz County"
The report, scoped to the Sheriff's Office, describes the CryWolf portal's video surveillance registration category and the office's participation in Amazon Ring's Neighbors Public Safety Service. [1]
What the grand jury reported
The 2022-2023 civil grand jury’s report “Surveillance State in Santa Cruz County,” published June 20, 2023, is the only record we have read on this program. It states that the county “approved a vendor contract for services on September 15, 2021” with “CryWolf Services, part of a Florida based for-profit company called CentralSquare,” and that the jury noticed a video surveillance registration category on that portal. The same report describes the Sheriff’s Office as a participant in Amazon Ring’s Neighbors Public Safety Service, use that its finding F1 calls minimal.[1]
What the Sheriff’s Office said
The grand jury qualified its own description: “While the Video Surveillance category is available to those who wish to register on the CryWolf False Alarm and Administration online registration, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office reports no use of this video registry for surveillance.” In its required response the office wrote that “Registering a video surveillance system with CryWolf does not provide the Sheriff’s Office with any remote access to the private persons closed-circuit system. Registering the video surveillance system only provides the County of Santa Cruz and the Sheriff’s Office with information that a system is available at the listed address.”[1]
What it does not establish
The report does not give a count of registered addresses, describe what the Sheriff’s Office can see of a registration, or say how footage is requested from a registered camera. The contract itself and any written policy for the registry were not in the records we fetched. The jury scoped its work to the Sheriff’s Office, so it does not speak to what other county agencies can reach.
Questions
- What is the county camera registry?
- The 2023 civil grand jury reported that the county's alarm-registration portal, run by CryWolf Services under a contract the county approved on September 15, 2021, carries a video surveillance registration category. Everything we can say about it here comes from that report. [1]
- Does the Sheriff's Office use Ring cameras?
- The 2023 civil grand jury reported that the office participates in Amazon Ring's Neighbors Public Safety Service, and its finding F1 describes the use as minimal. We have no later record on the question. [1]
- How many addresses are registered?
- No count appears in the grand jury report or in any other record we fetched. A records request is drafted. [1]
What we do not know
- How many addresses are registered, and what the Sheriff's Office can see of them.
- How the office requests footage from a registered camera, and how often it does.
- The CryWolf contract itself, and any written policy for the registry.
- The Ring Neighbors participation status and usage counts after 2023.
What you can do
Show up
Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have not yet confirmed where each of them meets in Santa Cruz County.
What we have documented in Santa Cruz County →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.
Surveillance Self-Defense →Sources
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