The Los Angeles Police Department has stopped using license plate reader cameras made by Flock Safety after its three-year contract ended over the weekend. The police department's chief information officer, Dean Gialamas, said LAPD will not sign a new contract unless the company addresses privacy and security concerns Los Angeles Times.

Flock Safety operates 138 cameras across Los Angeles. These cameras automatically photograph and record license plates as vehicles pass by. The data goes into a database that police and other agencies can search. LAPD first signed up with the Atlanta-based company in 2023. When the contract ran out last weekend, negotiations for a new deal stalled over who gets access to the information Engadget.

Why the disagreement matters

The main issue is what happens to the license plate information after police collect it. Flock Safety has shared this data with federal agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). California law says private companies cannot simply hand over this kind of surveillance data to the government without strict rules. Because LAPD operates in California, allowing ICE access to the data creates legal risk Engadget.

On July 10, ABC7 reported that LAPD cited concerns about civil rights and privacy as reasons to reject a new contract ABC7. Additionally, security experts have found flaws in Flock cameras that could let hackers break in, which adds another worry to the privacy question Engadget.

City council members had already begun questioning the cameras before the contract expired. In May, councilmember Ysabel Jurado introduced a proposal to stop expanding Flock cameras in Los Angeles CD14.

What changes now

The 138 cameras are no longer working for police investigations. LAPD has not said what it will use instead. Chief Gialamas said this is a pause while the department works out new rules, not a permanent goodbye to this type of camera technology. LAPD still believes license plate readers are useful — the department just wants stronger privacy protections before using them again.

Flock Safety relies on selling cameras to police departments and cities around the country. Thousands of agencies use them. When a major city like Los Angeles stops using them, other cities take notice. This could push Flock to fix the problems or lose more business. It might also inspire other California cities to reconsider their own contracts.

This situation is familiar from watching technology change policing over the last thirty years. New tools like license plate readers solve real problems — police can track down stolen cars faster, or find people fleeing crime scenes. But once the information is stored by a private company, harder questions arise. Who else gets to see it. What stops the government from asking for it in court. The fact that federal immigration agents got access to the data is the issue most likely to keep politicians talking about this, especially in a city that has said it will not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

Right now, the practical result is that LAPD investigators cannot use these cameras to look up license plates. How long that lasts depends on whether Flock can promise to keep the data from being shared with federal agencies, even when the government asks for it.