The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is ending its deal with Flock Safety, a surveillance company whose license plate cameras help law enforcement track vehicles nationwide. A senior LAPD official said the three-year contract would expire without renewal due to “serious concerns” around civil liberties, privacy, and the data collected by the cameras, which are operated by the Atlanta-based company rather than the department itself. LAPD chief information officer Dean Gialamas stated the department discontinued Flock services until data, privacy, security, and sharing concerns can be resolved through a new contractual relationship, and is seeking updated contract language on privacy and data storage.
As the third-largest U.S. police department, the LAPD ranks among Flock’s biggest government customers. Other major cities including Mountain View, California, and South Portland, Maine, have also stopped working with Flock over privacy worries and reports that federal immigration officials used the cameras in ways that conflicted with local sanctuary city policies. Flock said the contract expiry came as a surprise and expressed confidence it could clear up what it called misconceptions, without specifying them. It is unclear whether Flock cameras will keep recording without an active LAPD contract.
Flock operates a network of at least 80,000 cameras that scan license plates for police and federal agencies. The company has faced community backlash, with some locals dismantling cameras or covering them, and reports that Flock reinstalled devices without local permission. Researchers have documented cases of motorists being pulled over, detained at gunpoint, or jailed due to false positives from license plate readers, including a recent incident in which a journalist was tracked and boxed in after a camera wrongly flagged a review vehicle as stolen.
Flock has also drawn scrutiny over security lapses that exposed cameras and data, including instances allowing outsiders to view live feeds, and warnings from lawmakers that many police logins lack multi-factor authentication. Reports further alleged the DEA used a local officer’s password without knowledge to search for a suspect in an immigration case. The company continues to face pressure over privacy, surveillance scope, and data-sharing practices.