Capitola's police chief rewrote Flock's data clause and is demanding more amendments at renewal

Capitola's police chief negotiated a signed amendment barring Flock Safety from disclosing city data or changing the camera system without her permission, and told the company to expect more amendments at renewal.

Amendment No. 1 to the city's Master Services Agreement, signed by Chief Sarah Ryan on January 26, 2026, deletes and replaces Section 4.2 of the contract Capitola first signed on April 2, 2024. Under the new language, Flock "shall not disclose, enable access to, or otherwise make available any Customer Data to any unauthorized person or entity" except under law, a warrant, a court order, an exigent request, or the city's prior written consent. The amendment goes further: "no system access or configuration changes will be made without the express permission of Customer, all technology updates or modifications must be approved by the Chief of Police and/or their designee, and cameras shall not be removed or replaced without authorization from the Chief of Police and/or their designee."

Records produced under California Public Records Act request 124 show the negotiation ran from January through March 2026, with City Attorney Marc Tran of Burke, Williams & Sorensen on the city's side and customer success manager Gena Hatch and Head of Litigation Michael Goldsticker on Flock's. The company's head of litigation handled a small-town contract amendment.

Ryan pressed past the amendment. Ahead of the May 31 renewal, a 24-month term at $30,000 per year covering nine Falcon cameras and one Falcon LR, she told Flock to expect "very specific amendment requests based on community input and our strong desire to maintain this valuable investigative tool while ensuring our commitment to state law and the 4th Amendment." Flock sent the agreement over for the city's redlines on March 25. The renewal date itself came as a surprise: Flock pegs renewal to the date the first camera was validated, and the chief learned the clock was running from the vendor.

The emails also show what drove the process. "We have pending PRA requests wanting our up-to-date contract," Ryan wrote on February 5. The search those requests forced turned up a DocuSign failure: her January 26 signature had never registered on the executed copy. The next day she questioned the company's direction directly. "We all know this technology can be a great resource, but not in trade of public trust. I am curious what Mr. Langley and his managements teams long term plan is," she wrote, referring to Garrett Langley, Flock's founder and chief executive.

Capitola has about 10,000 residents and ten Flock cameras. The negotiated terms exist because the city asked for them; the amendment's function is to delete what Flock's standard agreement said. Thousands of agencies nationwide hold that standard agreement as written. The Capitola file documents the alternative: a chief using renewal timing, community input, and the pressure of public records requests to win contract language the vendor does not volunteer. Any department with a Flock contract holds the same leverage at its next renewal.

Source: Capitola Police Department, California PRA request 124, Bates CAP_PRA_124_000036 to 000199, 000250, 000329, 000385, 000396.