LAPD ends Flock camera contract over privacy and civil liberties concerns

The Los Angeles Police Department let its three-year Flock Safety contract expire Saturday after Chief Information Officer Dean Gialamas raised "serious concerns around civil liberties and civil rights issues, particularly around privacy and the data that is being collected from these cameras."

LAPD wants updated contract language on privacy and data storage before signing any new agreement, and police will keep talking with Flock Safety about revising the terms. LAPD also audits and inspects the cameras regularly, keeps stored data for between seven and 30 days before deletion, does not use the system for ICE enforcement, and limits searches to active criminal cases by trained, registered users.

The cameras themselves are not owned by LAPD. In many neighborhoods, they belong to neighborhood organizations and homeowners' associations that give police access.

Flock remained committed to working with LAPD and supports strong privacy protections, strict auditability and clear oversight. The company has become one of the largest players in automated license-plate reading, and the American Civil Liberties Union says Flock now contracts with more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies and operates over 80,000 AI-powered cameras across 49 states.

The ACLU says Flock's newer terms appear to weaken customer control over data and may allow the company to continue using customer data after a contract ends. On May 20, 2026, the ACLU and partners urged Congress to restrict automatic license plate readers except for tolling purposes.

A 2026 watchdog tally found at least 30 U.S. cities and agencies have canceled, suspended or refused to renew Flock contracts since late 2024, with objections ranging from unauthorized federal access to fears that license-plate data could be used for immigration enforcement.