LAPD Lets Agreement With Flock Safety Expire Over Privacy Concerns

Flock Security is hitting a tough patch with one among its largest clients.

The Los Angeles Police Division let its take care of the surveillance firm expire over the previous weekend, a spokesperson of the division instructed Enterprise Insider on Monday.

“We needed to handle among the civil liberty and civil rights concerns and guarantee that there’s readability over the phrases relating to privateness, knowledge possession, and safety,” the LAPD spokesperson stated.

The LAPD is amongst Flock’s largest authorities clients. The Atlanta-based firm operates a nationwide community of greater than 80,000 cameras that scan license plates to assist legislation enforcement businesses hint automobiles.

An LAPD audit report launched earlier in July stated the division had a three-year settlement with Flock, which operated 138 pole-mounted cameras throughout Los Angeles since July 2023. LAPD’s audit cited issues that federal businesses may have entry to knowledge collected by Flock and that federal immigration enforcement may search entry to it.

The info-sharing association was first reported in October 2025 by the College of Washington’s Heart for Human Rights, which stated that Flock had carried out an information-sharing pilot program that allowed federal businesses to entry license plate knowledge collected by native legislation enforcement businesses with out these businesses’ information or consent.

The LAPD is not alone in rethinking its affiliation with Flock

A rising variety of police jurisdictions have walked away from Flock since 2025, together with Mountain View, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara County, South Pasadena, Flagstaff, and Hillsborough, North Carolina.

In some locations, breaking apart with Flock has confirmed more durable than signing up. In Dayton, Ohio, metropolis staff lately lined the corporate’s cameras with trash luggage after an inner assessment discovered what officers described as “egregious violations” of metropolis coverage, together with hundreds of immigration-related searches. In Evanston, Illinois, officers stated Flock reinstalled cameras after town had moved to take away them, prompting a cease-and-desist letter earlier than the units have been finally taken down months later.

Enterprise Insider’s Nicole Einbinder beforehand reported that errors made by Flock’s automated license plate readers have led to harmless drivers being stopped at gunpoint, mauled by police canines, or jailed after their automobiles have been incorrectly flagged. One man in Toledo was arrested and suffered critical accidents after Flock’s digital camera misinterpret the “7” on his plate for a “2” and flagged the automobile to the police as stolen.

The setbacks come after years of speedy growth for Flock, which has turn into a dominant participant within the automated license plate reader market since its launch in 2017.

Earlier in 2026, Amazon’s Ring additionally canceled a deliberate partnership with Flock days after a Ring commercial aired in the course of the Tremendous Bowl sparked widespread backlash.

In a separate incident, US Legal professional Theodore S. Hertzberg introduced federal costs in opposition to a Texas man on Monday for allegedly leaving antisemitic and homophobic threats in Flock’s firm voicemail inbox. The voice message additionally accused the corporate of “breaking the Structure.”

Flock Security’s spokesperson instructed Enterprise Insider that the corporate can have ongoing discussions with LAPD to handle “misconceptions” that led to the “disappointing pause” and that it hopes to renew its “profitable partnership” with LAPD quickly.

“Whereas this newest growth comes as a shock,” the Flock spokesperson stated, “We stay dedicated to persevering with our lively and ongoing conversations with LAPD to discover a path ahead.”