LAPD sidelines relationship with license-plate reader company Flock Safety

The Los Angeles Police Department is not renewing its contract with automated license plate reader (ALPR) camera company Flock Safety amid a dispute over who controls the data Flock collects.

The decision to put the relationship on ice, announced July 11 by the LAPD, comes in the wake of an inspector general’s audit that pushed the department to stop using Flock technology pending the addition of enforceable privacy and security rules.

The audit found that over a two-month period, the department investigated 161 car owners whose vehicles Flock wrongly identified as stolen, according to 404 Media. 

The LAPD wants better safeguards protecting the collected data, said Chief Information Officer Dean Gialamas.

“The sticking point is around having very clear terms about who owns the data, what happens with the data once they collect it,” Gialamas said.

The LAPD will not use Flock “until we can get those data, privacy, security and sharing concerns ironed out through a contractual relationship,” he added.

A department spokesperson confirmed the decision but did not otherwise comment. 

Thousands of police departments nationwide deploy Flock and similar ALPR technology across their cities, making it easy for officers to track vehicles and see car owners' locations multiple times a day. 

In recent months, ALPR cameras have become increasingly controversial due to reports of Flock sharing its data with immigration police and a local department’s use of the data to investigate a woman suspected of having an abortion. Flock also was used to track protestors in several cities.

Calling the LAPD’s decision a “surprise,” a spokesperson for Flock said the company is “confident that through ongoing discussions with LAPD, we can clear up the current misconceptions that led to [this] disappointing pause.”

“Flock has been working with LAPD to ensure that any continued use of our technology included strong privacy protections, strict auditability, clear accountability, and appropriate limits around data access.”

Los Angeles is the largest police department to break with Flock. The company already has lost contracts in communities such as Seattle; Austin, Texas; Eugene, Oregon; Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Dayton, Ohio.