# Why Flock cameras are facing growing privacy concerns | To The Point with Alex Bell
# ABC10 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RxWe8r_9e8

Tonight onto the point,
crime fighting tool or threat to privacy,
where the debate now stands as automated
license plate cameras spread across the country.
Wildfire survivors demanding full compensation as California
considers changing how victims get paid.
The fight at the state.
Capital over billions of dollars.
A new setback for Highland's community charter.
Why a local school district says its past problems are
too big to ignore and President Trump changing childhood vaccinations,
what his new order does to the MMR vaccine and his reason behind it.
A debate is growing over the use of automated license plate readers,
which are commonly called flock cameras.
Good evening.
Thank you so much for joining us on To The Point.
I'm Alex Bell.
In the past week we have brought you
several stories from Elk Grove,
Grass Valley,
Yuba Sutter,
Roseville,
and more areas.
But these cameras,
look,
they've been used for years.
I do want to bring in Apis Becca Hobbecker to join us in studio.
Becca,
I know in our editorial meeting this morning we
were wondering like why is this debate growing,
especially now.
Yes,
that's a great question,
and that's what I asked experts today.
Flock,
we should say,
is a major company that produces these cameras,
though there are other companies including Exxon and Motorola,
and interestingly,
criticism seems to be transcending political lines.
They're posted at intersections across the region,
reading license plates,
building a digital trail of where drivers have been.
Supporters say automated license plate readers
are an important crime fighting tool.
Critics call them a surveillance state in the making,
and the pushback isn't coming from just one side of the aisle.
No matter where you fall on the political spectrum,
we all seem to be arriving at the same conclusion,
which is government mass surveillance.
Out of control and needs to be reined in
Chad Marlow is senior policy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union.
He says conservative opposition to the cameras
stems from concerns of big government overreach.
Progressive opposition centers around the potential for
historically over-policed communities to be further targeted.
Different starting points,
the same worry,
a serious invasion of privacy.
People in the political center,
even the Politically involved,
still,
it's the it factor of
why are you watching everywhere I'm going?
That's private to me,
even if I'm not doing anything wrong.
I don't want everywhere I go being tracked.
Dave Moss with the Electronic Frontier Foundation has followed this fight
for 13 years and says one detail keeps getting overlooked.
There aren't the same protections for this data that there is for,
say,
other things like our cell phone locations.
Data Moss says if police want someone's phone location,
they need a warrant.
He argues these cameras let them get similar information without one,
and he'd like to see that changed.
Make it have to go through a judge.
That way you're not running it for every single thing that comes through.
Here in Sacramento County,
the sheriff's office says it has 168 flock cameras around unincorporated areas,
including Rancho Cordova.
Without question,
immensely.
And that's still an understatement.
It is an invaluable piece of technology that we utilize every day.
Sergeant Edward Igo says every time a camera detects a wanted license plate,
a human in the sheriff's office verifies it.
He says the technology doesn't include facial recognition,
and California law bans the sharing of data with agencies outside the state,
including federal law enforcement.
Flock Safety's founder and CEO Garrett Langley says.
Nationwide,
the results speak for themselves.
We helped in over a million crimes last year,
over 10,000 missing people.
Critics question whether the trade-off is worth it.
Langley says he understands the concern,
but argues it doesn't have to be one or the other.
We believe in a future where public safety and privacy can coexist.
The debate is real,
but we shouldn't forget
that safety is also a fundamental right.
I don't think these companies should be trusted with our data,
particularly.
Because these companies are not in it for public safety.
They're not in it to serve police.
They are in it
to impress their investors.
These are tech companies in the end.
He and Marlow say they'd like to see the cameras banned nationwide.
The next best thing they say would be strict limits on how long the data can be stored.
The ACLU actually supports a 48 hour
data retention limit.
I mean minutes would be the best way to protect people.
And as for why the debate over these cameras is
blowing up now when they've been used for years,
people I spoke with today say it's a mix of factors,
including
a loss of trust in government across the political spectrum,
more people seeing and becoming aware of the cameras and how they're used,
these companies growing their database and sharing capabilities,
and the use of AI in identifying vehicles,
and high profile instances of.
Law enforcement officers misusing the system.
This is a story we'll continue following.
Alex.
All right,
Becca,
thank you for that update.
Well,
a new AI cyber defense program could help protect California from cyber attacks.
Governor Newsom
announced the program will work to detect vulnerabilities,
strengthen networks,
and respond to cyber incidents.
The program will also give local
governments and critical infrastructure partners.
More access
to AI powered cybersecurity tools.
The announcement comes as state officials warn
AI is making cyber attacks more sophisticated,
faster,
and cheaper to carry out.
And this comes
on the heels of a cyber attack that shut down the city of Sassoon's computer network
on Friday.
Now some city services
are still impacted and
we're closed to the public today.
The city is working.
Alongside federal,
state,
and regional agencies,
including the FBI to investigate
the cybersecurity incident,
emergency services,
including police and fire,
are still operating.
Residents who call 911 will still be able to reach someone.
Sissoon City plans to hold an emergency city council meeting tomorrow morning
where they will hear public comment before
going into a special closed session.
California has long debated how to pay wildfire victims for their losses.
Now there's a scramble to make long term changes
to the state's wildfire payout fund before the
end of the legislative session this month.
ABC 10 political reporter Jenny Hu explains.
Much of our utility and energy policies
here
in California
are ass backwards.
Monday morning,
wildfire survivors and advocates gathered at the state Capitol to
demand victims of utility-caused wildfires receive their full compensation.
Steve Crowder is the mayor of Paradise,
a city destroyed by the campfire in 2018,
which was started by PG&E.
It claimed Crowder's home and business,
and after all that,
we're still being asked to accept less than what we were promised.
And so the group is pushing for Assembly Bill 2700,
which seeks to fully compensate victims.
This wildfire restitution bill passed the Assembly unanimously and
is making its way through the state Senate.
If it passes,
it heads to Governor Newsom's desk.
That the ultimate accountability for full restitution rests
with the utility that ignited the fire.
But there's political debate growing over talks of Governor
Newsom's plan to amend the current wildfire payout system,
then bring it into the sunlight,
introduce.
A bill,
don't do it at the very end because that's when shady stuff happens.
Congressman James Gallagher,
who authored AB 2700 when he was in the Assembly,
voiced frustration.
Though Democratic legislators have been briefed,
there's still nothing official,
at least publicly.
It's a pot of money Newsom helps create to help
utilities pay victims after PG&E in 2019 filed for bankruptcy.
That no corporation can really
sustain
that level of liability,
fire after fire after fire.
The three privately owned utilities in the state,
PG&E,
San Diego Gas and Electric,
and Southern California Edison and ratepayers paid an equal
amount into this pot $21 billion at the start,
an additional $18 billion last year to address the Eaton fire.
Now Newsom is reportedly trying to amend that system by
setting a cap on how much some groups insurance companies,
attorneys,
and hedge funds can collect from the pot,
but there's a time crunch.
The legislative session concludes at the end of the month.
Who should be bearing the risk?
Who should
be able to recover
when there are losses.
It's a very,
very difficult thing to work out.
As part of that $18 billion allocation last year was a
request for the California Earthquake Authority
to study long-term financing options.
Newsom's office says that report is informing discussions.
Nathan Click is.
Spokesperson for the Wildfire Victims First Coalition,
which all three utility companies are part of,
says the group is pushing legislators to reform the
current wildfire recovery system to better compensate victims.
But survivors have questioned the motives of this group,
noting it's backed by utilities and businesses rather than victims.
Jenny He,
ABC 10.
Tonight crews are battling a new wildfire in the region.
A look at the latest evacuations in El Dorado County,
and a charter school's bid for approval in Yuba City
is denied because of concerns over finances and oversight.
What the school is saying all following a years-long ABC 10 investigation.
In fire potential and this year as we get towards the weekend,
we'll continue to increase and thunderstorms are on the way.
I'll track those coming up next.
But first,
another headlines tonight.
This is an innocent party who lost their lives due to
poor judgment and decision making
on behalf of one driver.
A Caltran subcontractor died this morning after being knocked
off eastbound Highway 50 by an alleged drunk driver.
According to the CHP,
a 24-year-old woman swerved into the worker's construction truck,
kept.
and hit a second vehicle.
The CHP arrested her near 65th Street.
Jury selection began today in the case against the man accused
of orchestrating the 1996 killing of the rapper Tupac Shakur.
Prosecutors say Dwayne Keefe D.
Davis provided the gun used in the shooting.
Davis is charged with first degree murder with a deadly weapon.
Davis has pleaded.
Not guilty and President Trump today signed an
executive order calling for spacing out childhood vaccines.
It splits the combined measles,
mumps,
and rubella vaccine into 3 different shots.
Trump has long suspected that the number or timing
of vaccines could play a role in autism,
even as scientific consensus and decades of
studies have concluded there is no link.
Welcome back in.
Crews are gaining control of a wildfire in El Dorado County.
The Hawk Fire started just a little after 2: this afternoon,
burning in the area of Hawk Haven Lane and Perry Creek Road in Fairplay.
Forward progress thankfully has been stopped after burning 45 acres.
Evacuation orders are now reduced to warnings,
and Peter,
this is just one of several fires that you're actually following.
Uh,
but also you are tracking a weather impact alert in the Sierra,
correct?
Yes,
that's exactly the thing is we're seeing all these fires
right now and as we get into the weekend,
we're just going to continue to see an increased
risk for fires as we get closer to Saturday,
Wednesday through Friday is that weather impact.
But here's some good news with this fire again,
the Hawk Fire,
you're not seeing a lot of smoke with the camera there,
right?
You can see a little bit of a bird right there,
but the smoke
has started to go out and again it was just to the north
there of a fair play just to the south and kind of east of Somerset,
and again,
not a lot of smoke going on there.
With that fire,
but as we get into the next couple of days,
that's really what's new in the forecast is that
dry lightning potential bringing that increased fire risk.
That's why we have the weather impact alert leading up to that.
We just have the cooling temperatures that will continue
and that monsoon moisture moving in,
bringing that dry lightning
potential.
But for the weather impact alert with that dry lightning,
it's going to be Wednesday to your Friday,
bringing that elevated
fire risk.
So what you need to do is stay fire ready,
have your go bag packed,
have those 5 Ps ready.
Also,
no evacuation routes,
and big emphasis there on routes have multiple ways.
you know you can't evacuate in case you do
see a fire develop near your home.
Always better to be safe
than sorry in these types of situations.
And it's because we're going to be seeing a whole lot of lightning.
Notice these bluish colorings that we're seeing here starting
to pop up on Wednesday here near the region.
That blue continues into your Thursday.
A lot of lightning potential as we get into your Thursday afternoon.
That really continues into Friday as well as that low moves right over the region.
That's going to allow
that lightning chance to develop once again on Friday.
As we get towards Saturday,
a more mild pattern will develop until that next.
Slow moves
into the area and maybe brings a similar set up once again late next week,
but for now we got to talk about this week and this significant fire potential.
You can see in the red,
that's where we have that high lightning potential
for fire in the Sierra moving into the northern
portions of the state north of Reading near Mount Shasta
there and also again in the Sierra near Tahoe.
That's where we're seeing the best potential here
for the fires
this weekend.
Temperatures across the board right now right around
the 88 degree mark here in Sacramento.
Pretty mild evening here as we continue
through the rest of your Monday night with.
Overnight lows right around the 60 degree mark and your highs tomorrow
right around the low 90s.
Again,
it's a cooldown that's going to continue here
throughout
the week.
And over the next few days though,
with the cooldown comes that moisture again.
Wednesday,
Thursday into Friday.
That's when we have that weather impact alert
in the mountains for that thunderstorm potential.
Notice the temperature drop as we get towards Thursday,
Friday,
and your 10 day forecast.
Yeah,
very comfortable here as well,
Alex.
That's a whole lot of 80s.
I bet that's a nice switch up for all of us to see.
Oh yeah,
especially after this weekend.
All right,
Peter,
thank you.
And our ABC 10 weather impact team,
of course,
always here for you 24/7.
If you do wanna check out the latest conditions anytime,
make sure you check out
our 24/7 radar.
It's streaming just for free
on our app.
You can scan that QR code on your screen right now for easy instructions.
Coming up,
a new adult charter school will not be moving forward in Yuba City.
The responses all following a years-long ABC 10 investigation.
Following a years-long ABC 10 investigation called the Wild West of Education,
there are now new details tonight
on a Yuba City unified decision to deny a petition
from Highlands Community Charter and Technical schools to open
a new adult charter school.
ABC 10 investigative reporter Adrian Thomas has the district's concerns
and reaction from Highlands tonight.
This decision centers on a bigger question.
Has Highlands changed enough to be trusted with a new charter?
The district says the charter school's past
problems still presents too great a risk.
Highlands says its new leadership has transformed the school
and that adult students still need the services it provides.
Highlands is the subject of an ongoing investigative
series by ABC 10.
That has uncovered nepotism,
fraud,
and launder spending of taxpayer dollars.
The Yuba City Unified School Board voted July 28th to deny Highland's
petition to open the California Adult Learning Academy known as CAA.
The proposed charter would primarily serve adult
students through online learning and independent study.
In a 23 page report,
district staff said the petition failed to
meet state requirements in several areas,
including financial oversight,
teacher qualifications,
attendance reporting,
and governance.
The district also alleged Highlands did
not disclose plans to eventually move about
2000 students from its existing Sacramento area schools into the new charter.
Highlands disputes that characterization,
saying Cla is designed to expand,
not relocate,
adult education opportunities.
The charter school says the new school would establish a
presence in the Yuba Sutter region while offering flexible education,
English language development,
and workforce training.
The scrutiny surrounding
Highlands began with ABC 10's years-long investigation,
the Wild West of Education.
Our reporting exposed serious questions about the organization's spending,
attendance reporting,
teacher credentials,
school locations,
and a lack of government oversight.
ABC 10's findings helped prompt state lawmakers to request a formal audit.
That audit later found Highland's improperly received
more than $180 million in taxpayer funding.
It also identified unapproved campuses,
teacher credentialing problems.
Questionable spending and failures to properly document instructional time.
The audit became a central part of Yuba
City Unified's decision to deny the CAA petition.
Former Highland's teacher Lindsay Curtis shared her thoughts with us
on Yuba City Unified's decision to deny Highland's new charter.
I was actually pretty surprised at that.
I thought,
um,
with some connections that maybe the board had up there that it would happen.
I was really surprised that that they denied them,
especially,
I think there's a need up there.
Do you feel like Highland's.
Has made the necessary reforms and is on a good path or at least somewhat improved.
I would love to say that Highlands is on a better path.
I think they have made moves that at least show that they're aware of
changes that need to be made in terms of
folks that were there that probably shouldn't have been.
Curtis still works in education and hopes she can
watch Highlands from afar start a better chapter.
I have hope.
I would love to see it.
Turn a corner and and really serve the
community well and use taxpayer funds responsibly.
We asked Highlands for an on-camera interview,
they declined,
but in a statement,
Highlands said Yuba City Unified relied on historical information that
does not reflect sweeping reforms implemented under new leadership.
The school also disputes the district's concerns about teacher support,
saying more than 80 qualified California educators signed the petition.
Highland's executive.
Director Jonathan Raymond said,
quote,
Our mission remains unchanged,
providing adult learners with a second chance at education,
workforce training,
and economic opportunity.
The denial will not immediately close Highlands or interrupt classes.
Its two existing schools remain open under Twin Rivers Unified through June 2027.
Highlands now plans to appeal to the Sutter County Office of Education,
a process that could take up to 90 days.
The Sutter County.
The Board of Education could either uphold Yuba City
Unified's decision or agree to authorize the new school.
We reached out to the California Department of Education,
and they said that Highlands has appealed the state
auditor's findings on the $180 million in taxpayer funding
the charter school improperly received,
and the department is now waiting for a decision from an appeals panel
before taking any action.
Adrian Thomas,
ABC 10.
And Twin Rivers tells ABC 10 that it was aware
of Highland's plan to move about 2000 Sacramento area students
into the proposed charter.
The district says that it continues to fulfill its
legal oversight responsibilities as Highland's current charter authorizer.
Alright,
right after the break,
the 2 year investigation into Highland Charter,
excuse me,
this is actually to our streaming app,
uh,
if you do wanna check out our wild west of education,
uh,
look into Highlands Charter School,
um,
we did uncover a lack of oversight as we talked about in that piece is in,
uh,
Highlands Charter check.
schools
you can watch the Wild West of Education right now.
The whole series is streaming
on our free app.
Just look for it on the home screen.
You'll see it right there.
All right,
now to what's coming up after the break.
Sacramento's
Italian roots are getting a new spotlight,
the new signs and banners that are going up in East Sacramento.
All right,
before we go tonight,
a piece of Sacramento's Italian history is getting new recognition.
New Little Italy street signs and banners
started going up today throughout East Sacramento.
The city officially designated the neighborhood Little Italy in 2021,
recognizing
the Italian American community.
A long history there.
The signs will be installed throughout the
areas between 48th and 59th Streets,
Jay Street and Folsom Boulevard.
The neighborhood is still home to many Italian American families and businesses,
with roots in Sacramento stretching all the way back to the gold rush.
Very,
very cool.
Before we go here,
I know I always say if you have something that we should be looking into,
you can always reach out to our team,
but I just wanna say
we have gotten some incredibly,
incredibly nice emails from some of you at home.
It really makes our team's day.
You have called us informative and so many nice and kind words and
even words directly to me,
and I just wanna say that means so much to our team.
It is,
um,
had a profound effect on our team and we deeply appreciate all of those
kind comments and we have gotten so many great story ideas as well.
So just thank you,
thank you,
thank you for taking time out of your day
to reach out to us.
We really appreciate it.
Have a great night and on that note,
I'll see you tomorrow,
same time,
same place.