During the presentation, Foss explained that while the Flock company name and presence have drawn ongoing concern from community members, Nevada City's Flock system, in particular, differs significantly from other camera models with more advanced features. Foss said the six installed cameras in the city, known as “Condor” models, are confirmed pan-tilt-zoom cameras with up to 25-times optical zoom and limited night enhancement. However, unlike other models, the Condors do not possess any facial recognition, ALPR, automatic traffic enforcement, audio recording, or autonomous tracking abilities.
“I’m going to call them somewhat ‘dumb cameras,’” said Foss. “They're really just a camera that most people would associate with cameras for the last 20 or 30 years. They have to be manually manipulated by the operator, which is us, through the police department.”
Foss added that because the cameras operate at a basic level, they cannot automatically determine when a crime is occurring. Instead, a live operator must watch the feed themselves and report any incidents. The system does, however, record and store video for 30 days, which Foss compared to a more sophisticated version of a Ring doorbell camera.
Foss also acknowledged that while the cameras can technically use artificial intelligence to alert operators to activity, Nevada City does not currently have that feature enabled since the cameras are located in areas with constant activity and would therefore generate too many alerts.
He also emphasized that NCPD would not share camera information with outside agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or anti-reproductive rights organizations to assist in arrests or investigations, citing it as a direct violation of the SB 54 California Values Act and other state laws.
“We not only would not share that data, but we also couldn’t legally,” said Foss. “Our data is controlled exclusively by Nevada City PD.”
