Cal State Monterey Bay shared through email and at a recent town hall that evaluation of vendors for license plate recognition technology has begun, with plans for implementation in the 2027-28 fiscal year. The proposed idea would allow a digitized permit system to track all cars entering and exiting university lots.
But the idea of automated cameras running 24/7 has some members of the campus community worried and has caused push back at least one other university in California where the technology has been installed. One campus employee, who works in administration, is sounding the alarm on the dangers of automated camera technologies on campus.
“Automated license plate readers recently approved by CSUMB and installed on-campus are a threat to private security, certain student populations, and to our culture of care at CSUMB,” says the employee in the division of Enrollment Management & Student Affairs, Office of Admissions who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.
Similar technologies have been used in the past to aid law enforcement and, according to the universities who install them, improve campus safety. According to an article by student-led news outlet Mustang News,Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was one of the most recent campuses to install Flock cameras, which note car details such as color, make, model and license plate number. Their team found that the campus police conducted 406 searches of their Flock data from June 2025 to Feb. 3, 2026.
“We cannot trust that this private company will ensure the security of our personal data, especially in response to the pressure from the federal government we, as a higher education institution, are already receiving,” said the CSUMB employee, “Transparency demands the community know how this data is being used and accessed, including areas in which we have no oversight.”
Backlash on Cal Poly’s campus was heavy, leading to a student petition and a response from the university. According to CSU policy, data recorded on automated cameras is retained for 30 days, barring a request by the chief of police or other law enforcement.
More alarmingly, incidents have been recorded of federal law enforcement accessing Flock data without permission from the local bodies that control them. According to a statement made by Mountain View, a city in nearby Santa Clara County, its Flock Safety system was accessed through a “nationwide” search setting that was turned on by Flock Safety without the permission or knowledge of the city.
This issue is already local. Flock cameras have existed in Monterey and Marina since 2024, visible through the organization DeFlock which tracks the number and location of cameras through their website. One prominent camera already tracks individuals on the corner of Seaside and Second Avenue.
“The data collected by these cameras is not just accessible by police departments nationwide, but also a heavily funded domestic force terrorizing our immigrant population across the country, a population that is most responsible for the affluence of this peninsula,” said the CSUMB employee, “America is quickly becoming a mass surveillance nation. Is this what we really want to represent at CSUMB?”