The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is suspending a deal with Flock Safety, which operates some of its license plate cameras, amid controversy over privacy rights and who should control the footage.
Law enforcement officials told the New York Post the decision was made as contract negotiations were ongoing, the outlet reported Friday.
LAPD’s Chief Information Officer Dean Gialamas said his agency is working to protect privacy rights.
“Our priority is about protecting the constitutional rights and civil liberties of those we serve. We’re trying to clarify terms so that the data ownership and security is firmed up,” he explained.
The LAPD’s suspension of dealings with Flock comes after leftists accused the company of sharing data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help find illegals.
However, Gialamas told ABC 7, “The use is strictly for law enforcement purposes, and it is inherently not for any immigration purposes.”
“So the cameras can be searched. If there’s criminal activity, there needs to be an active case, users have to be registered in the system, trained in the system,” he added.
Breitbart News’s Lucas Nolan wrote wrote in February:
The Verge reports that Ring has announced the cancellation of its planned integration with Flock Safety, a surveillance technology company that works with law enforcement agencies including ICE, following weeks of mounting public pressure and backlash from privacy advocates and customers.
…
The partnership, originally announced in October 2025, became a flashpoint for controversy amongst leftists in recent weeks amid heightened concerns about immigration enforcement activities. Flock Safety has reportedly allowed ICE and other federal agencies to access its network of surveillance cameras, leading to widespread claims on social media that Ring was providing direct access to ICE. While Ring maintains these claims are inaccurate since the integration never went live, the company’s history of partnering with police departments intensified scrutiny of the arrangement.
In Los Angeles, officers use the readers to find vehicles that are reported stolen or registered to wanted individuals, the Post article said.
“Automated license plate readers have been employed in L.A. for more than two decades, officials said. Every U.S. police force serving a city of more than 1 million residents uses it, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, including New York, Chicago and Houston,” the outlet stated.
A police sergeant in Pasadena, Texas, resigned while under investigation for allegedly using the department’s Flock Safety system to track a female police officer, Click 2 Houston reported Friday.