To request inclusion of your local peace and social justice action, please email BerkSpeak@gmail.com.
These alerts are for March 2026. Happy Spring!
Here’s how you can help stop Berkeley from:
Using Chemical Weapons!
Violating Sanctuary with “Flock Safety!”
Here is a calendar of government events related to Flock, surveillance, and police weapons, in March and beyond. All of them are opportunities for public comment.
- Wednesday March 18, 5:15 to 7pm, 2nd Community Conversation with police and fire departments and Mayor Ishii on Public Safety tech (i.e. surveillance via Flock), South Berkeley location available upon registration, see below.
- Tuesday March 24, 6pm, City Council to vote on expanding and extending several Flock contracts, and a bunch of other surveillance programs, School Board Headquarters, 1231 Addison St. Berkeley. Hybrid meeting.
- TBD: Public Safety Committee meeting to vote on police dogs and helicopters.
- TBD: City Council to vote on chemical weapons, dogs, and helicopters. (April or later)
Early Spring 2026 is decision time for Berkeley on a raft of measures that take the city backwards on police reform and immigrant rights…
> Back to police weapons and tools we thought we had put away for good:
- CS/tear gas, OC/pepper spray, and smoke
- Police helicopters
- Police dogs!
> Back to the days before civilian oversight; before Berkeley instituted:
- The rule that the City Manager must agree before police use dogs or helicopters
> Back to a time before Berkeley created the Sanctuary City principle:
- The rule that says we must not collaborate with ICE thugs, who murder civilians to enforce their mass deportation campaign.The city government is determined to expand its public surveillance contract with Flock Safety, which is known to share people’s video and image data with ICE.
- Working with Flock is second-hand collaboration, or “passively taking part,” as Mario Savio named it at the dawn of Berkeley’s progressive era in 1964: “There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part! You can’t even passively take part!”
How you can influence the decision process.
I. Learn about the Council’s proposals and the struggle to stop them.
See details below and this resource page for more information.
II. Come or Zoom in to city council meeting March 24.
The city council is on a fast track to approve these proposals.
Council will take up the Flock item at their Tuesday March 24 meeting. This item will significantly expand Berkeley’s mass surveillance contract with Flock Safety.
In April or beyond, Council will take up CS/tear gas, OC/pepper spray, smoke, police dogs and helicopters, which were banned or restricted in previous years.
You can find the Council proposals at:
1. Controlled weapons item:
a. Chemical weapons (Public Safety Committee Feb. 19 agenda, item 3, page 17; and PAB review):
b. Police use of dogs and helicopters (Public Safety Committee Feb. 19 p.9, PAB p.82)
https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/legislative-body-meeting-agendas/2026-02-19 Agenda Packet – Public Safety.pdf
2. Flock item (this is the original item from last September that was postponed to this month):
https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2025-09-09%20Item%2024%20Contract%20Flock%20Safety%20for%20Condor.pdf
There may be a lot of speakers, so it’s likely that people may only get a minute or two to speak. A minute goes by real fast. It would be good to prepare your thoughts in order to make a quick point.
Background and Details for the Urgent Action Guide:
- Wednesday March 18 from 5:15-7pm, 2nd BPD Community Discussion on Public Safety Technology
“Join a conversation with police and fire departments and Mayor Ishii about public safety technology tools.”
Meeting location is in South Berkeley, District 3.(Location details provided upon RSVP.) Contact the mayor’s office with questions or comments or to request accommodations: mayor@berkeleyca.gov.
RSVP: tinyurl.com/IshiiMeeting