Who is paint bombing Oakland’s Flock cameras?

Drivers cruising along Fruitvale Avenue recently may have noticed a curious sight: a small black camera with a solar panel attached to a light post, splattered with purple paint.

This is powerful surveillance camera manufactured by Flock Safety, a Georgia-based company. In December, the City Council agreed to renew a contract with Flock to maintain a network of nearly 300 automated license plate readers installed on posts and utility poles all over Oakland. The council also approved the installation of 40 Flock Condor cameras, which can provide livestream footage to OPD.

The council made this decision over the objections of scores of residents who expressed concerns about Flock as a vendor. Many cited privacy concerns, while others pointed to how Flock’s cameras have been used to monitor protests, locate undocumented immigrants for deportation, and investigate people seeking reproductive healthcare.

It appears that an unknown vandal or vandals have started targeting Flock cameras in ways that might disable them. The Fruitvale camera, it appears, was struck with paint, including over its lens.

In addition to the camera spotted by The Oaklandside on Fruitvale Avenue, we also found a Flock camera at the intersection of W. MacArthur Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Way that appears to be splattered with a similar color of paint. It’s unclear when these paint bombings happened.

Other Oaklanders have been noticing the paint bombings. Earlier this month, a resident posted a picture of a Flock camera coated in gray paint on the Temescal Nextdoor group. (It’s unclear where exactly that camera is located.)

An OPD spokesperson said in an email the department is aware of damage done to its cameras and is currently investigating.

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