The Los Angeles Police Department is reworking its partnership with Flock Safety, an automatic license plate reader company, with enhanced privacy protections, less than a week after announcing it would not renew its contract due to concerns about the firm’s data ownership practices.
Los Angeles is one of dozens of American cities that have discontinued its use of Flock cameras in the last year. Flock uses optical character recognition to identify numbers and letters on license plates. While this technology has been used to identify vehicles in the cases of theft or to locate missing persons, the company has increasingly been accused of privacy violations, including using the data collected for immigration enforcement.
The LAPD confirmed it is renegotiating a deal with the company, which operates 138 cameras in Los Angeles. The city entered into a memorandum of understanding with Flock in 2023, which expired in June and was not renewed.
The department directed Fortune to comments Chief Jim McDonnell made at a police commission meeting on Tuesday.
“Automated license plate reader technology is a very valuable investigative tool—helping locate violent offenders, identify stolen vehicles, and generate leads that assist in solving crimes and delivering justice for victims,” McDonnell said. “At the same time, we have a responsibility to ensure that any technology we use is supported by strong protections for individual privacy and the security of the information entrusted to us.”
