Berkeley Police Chief Withholds Evidence of “ICE” Search of City Camera Data

Berkeley Copwatch has been galvanizing the community to lobby city council members to stop the deployment of FLOCK cameras and to end mass surveillance in Berkeley. Despite multiple assurances from Police Chief Jen Louis to the Berkeley City Council that data collected from FLOCK surveillance cameras would be inaccessible to ICE and CBP, evidence to the contrary has come to light. This deeply troubling development exposes an irony, following the January 2025 rededication of Berkeley as being a “sanctuary city”.

At the meeting of the Police Accountability Board of Nov. 5, 2025, Berkeley Police Department’s (BPD) required internal audit showed that external law enforcement agencies searched Berkeley’s Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) data, using terms such as “ICE” and “CBP” in the search engine’s “reason” field.

In a Nov. 4, 2025 letter from the Chair of the Police Accountability Board, Joshua Cayetano explained, “My understanding is that BPD identified the noncompliant use of Flock ALPR data in July 2025, before its presentation to Council, requesting that the City contract with Flock for its external fixed surveillance cameras. In its materials… BPD did not mention that it had identified a potential policy violation of Policy 1305 or Berkeley’s sanctuary city resolution.”

The evidence suggests that BPD may have intentionally lied in September of 2025 when they promised Berkeley City Council that Flock data collected in Berkeley would never be used for immigration enforcement. In fact, searches had already been conducted and BPD either knew or should have known it. “BPD withheld information from the city council in an effort to advance its own policy objectives. This is a very serious breach of the public trust,” said Avi Simon of Berkeley Copwatch. “This scandal requires deeper investigation by the PAB. The intentional withholding of crucial policy information by A POLICE CHIEF is outrageous. The council has been misled by this chief before and we can only wonder, what else will the chief lie about?”

Council members such as Terry Taplin have introduced proposals calling for expanded surveillance camera networks, longer data retention policies, the introduction of surveillance drones, and encrypted radio channels. Berkeley Copwatch calls on concerned community members to contact their council members and explain to them that “public safety” requires “public trust”.

Demand transparency and accountability! Stop mass surveillance! Make Berkeley a true sanctuary city! Say NO to FLOCK!

Reach Mayor and City Councilmembers at: council [at] berkeleyca.gov

Mayor Ishi: (510) 981-7100