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Sonoma Police | License plate readers

The Sonoma Index-Tribune reported that the City Council approved a three-year Flock Safety contract on March 30, 2026, running through September 2028 at an annual cost not to exceed $50,500, and that the city has 16 cameras inside its limits. The contract itself and the council record are not in the documents we fetched.

At a glance

Contract, as reported by the Sonoma Index-Tribune
Three years with Flock Safety, approved March 30, 2026, running through September 2028, "at an annual cost not to exceed $50,500" [1]
Cameras, as reported by the Sonoma Index-Tribune
"Sonoma currently has 16 Flock cameras within the city limits" [1]
Retention, as the police chief stated it to the council and the paper reported it
"The data is not stored beyond 30 days" and "it will delete from the server at that 24th hour on the 30th day" [1]
When the city started with the vendor, as reported
2023 [1]
Who polices the city
The city contracts its police services from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, which lists Sonoma on its contract cities page [2]
The contract, the staff report and the council record
not in the records we fetched
Sharing list
not in the records we fetched

How it happened

  1. Procurement

    The city starts with Flock Safety, as reported

    The Sonoma Index-Tribune reported in March 2026 that the city's partnership with the vendor began in 2023. We did not read the original approval. [1]

  2. Decision

    Council extends the contract to September 2028, as reported

    The Sonoma Index-Tribune reported that the council "approved a three-year contract with Flock Safety on Monday, ensuring continued and possibly expanded use of the automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology through September 2028," at an annual cost not to exceed $50,500. [1]

What the reporting says

Everything on this page about the contract comes from one newspaper account. The Sonoma Index-Tribune reported on March 31, 2026 that the council “approved a three-year contract with Flock Safety on Monday, ensuring continued and possibly expanded use of the automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology through September 2028,” at “an annual cost not to exceed $50,500,” and that the arrangement began in 2023. The same report states that “Sonoma currently has 16 Flock cameras within the city limits.” At the March 30 meeting, Police Chief Brandon Cutting said “The data is not stored beyond 30 days” and that “it will delete from the server at that 24th hour on the 30th day.”[1]

Who runs it

The city contracts its police services from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, which lists Sonoma on its contract cities page.[2] The reporting describes a camera network the city pays for. We have not read a record that says which body holds the vendor agreement or which personnel run searches against the cameras, so this page treats the operator as a question rather than a finding.

What it does not establish

The contract, the staff report and the council minutes for the March 30, 2026 vote were not in the records we fetched, so the term, the renewal conditions, the retention setting and the sharing list reach this page only as they were reported. The date and terms of the original 2023 approval are open on the same footing. No usage and privacy policy for the readers in the city was in the documents we fetched.

Questions

How many license plate cameras does the City of Sonoma have?
Sixteen, according to the Sonoma Index-Tribune, which reported in March 2026 that "Sonoma currently has 16 Flock cameras within the city limits." We did not read a city record stating a count. [1]
How long is the data kept?
Thirty days, according to the police chief as the Sonoma Index-Tribune reported him. At the March 30, 2026 meeting the chief said "The data is not stored beyond 30 days" and that "it will delete from the server at that 24th hour on the 30th day." We did not read the contract or the department policy that would set this. [1]
Who operates the cameras?
The city contracts its police services from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, which lists Sonoma on its contract cities page. The reporting describes the contract as the city's. Which body holds the vendor agreement and which personnel search the data are questions we have not answered from a record. [2] [1]

On the map

The community has mapped 361 devices of this type in the county on OpenStreetMap. These are community reports: the vendor and operator of each point are unverified, and none is confirmed to belong to this system. See them on the map →

Street names from reverse geocoding — © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

What we do not know

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 Sonoma County.

What we have documented in Sonoma 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

  1. 1.
    Sonoma Index-Tribune, "City Council extends Flock contract for automated license plate readers," March 31, 2026 · News · · accessed · archived copy
  2. 2.
    Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, Contract Cities · Primary document · accessed · archived copy

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