The city of Los Angeles is letting a three-year contract with Flock Security expire — at least for now — amid concerns about privacy, data storage and the effectiveness of Flock’s license plate reader technology, as well as moves by other cities to distance themselves from the Atlanta-based surveillance company.
Over the weekend, the Los Angeles Police Department announced it would no longer use the 138 mounted surveillance cameras in the city operated by Flock, which were being used to track vehicles by automatically reading their license plates. A few months ago, the Los Angeles Times reported on discontent in LA over Flock potentially sharing information with the US government, including the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, although at the time the LAPD praised Flock’s cameras as “tremendous investigative tools.”
In May, a city council member moved to suspend new contracts or agreements with Flock.
Neither the LAPD, the LA City Council nor Flock Safety responded immediately to a request for comment.
The LAPD told news outlets that a sticking point on moving forward with the company was uncertainty about the data that Flock collects from its cameras, including who owns it and how it can be used once it’s collected.
Flock’s statement to outlets, including KTLA, suggested that misperceptions were driving the decision and that it had been working with the LAPD on data privacy protections and limits around data access. “While this latest development comes as a surprise, we remain committed to continuing our active and ongoing conversations with LAPD to find a path forward,” a Flock spokesperson told the TV station.
Cities dropping or reevaluating Flock
A number of US cities have decided to part ways with Flock Safety this year, but even after contracts ended, some continued to have issues with the company.
Dayton, Ohio, and Evanston, Illinois, both used trash bags to cover Flock cameras to prevent the company from continuing to operate them.
Dayton accused the company of data-sharing violations, including searched related to immigration enforcement. Evanston issued a cease-and-desist order after discovering that Flock had reinstalled cameras the city had ordered removed.
Other cities that have canceled contracts with Flock include Mountain View and Oakland, California; Knoxville, Tennessee; Flagstaff, Arizona; Cambridge, Massachusetts; San Marcos, Texas; and Redmond, Washington. The website DeFlock is maintaining a running list of city councils that have canceled contracts or rejected bids from Flock.
As DeFlock points out, Flock isn’t the only vendor of software and hardware that performs automatic license plate reading. Others include Axon, Genetec and Motorola Solutions.
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