The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners on Tuesday, July 14 approved recommendations to suspend the deployment of additional automated license plate readers in the city, including cameras by Flock Safety, until additional oversight is in place and more public input is heard.
The vote came three days after the Los Angeles Police Department let its contract with Flock Safety expire, effectively losing access to data from 138 cameras around the city. Other cameras from Motorola and Axon were still in use.
The Flock Safety cameras are still recording data, but the department does not have access to it, Cmdr. Randy Goddard told the board on Tuesday.
“Nobody has access to that data,” Goddard said, adding that Flock Safety has assured the department that no one on their end has access to it, either.
The LAPD had a three-year contract with Flock Safety, but due to privacy, data storage and data sharing concerns, the department let that contract expire on Saturday, July 11.
Police Chief Jim McDonnell stressed earlier in Tuesday’s meeting that the cameras are a “very valuable investigative tool,” and that the “decision is not a rejection of technology.”
Public concerns of Flock cameras arose in October 2025 after a report by the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights said that Flock had tested an information-sharing program that allowed federal agencies to access license plate data collected by local agencies without knowledge or consent from those agencies.
Goddard said the department sent a draft services agreement updating the city’s terms for a renewed contract, which was to include that the city be the sole and exclusive owner of all automated license plate reader data, and included other provisions regarding data sharing and action steps in the event of a data breach.
The company, according to Goddard, did not respond until the day before the contract was set to expire with a letter of intent, which LAPD viewed as encouraging, but not enforceable.
Dean Gialamas, the department’s chief information officer, has said the department wants stronger contractual protections regarding ownership and control of data collected by Flock cameras and until those issues are resolved, the department would stop using Flock’s systems.
“I’m disappointed that we’re here in this situation,” Commissioner Jeff Skobin said. “The terms we’re asking for aren’t egregious; they’re following state law and city ordinance.”
Regarding the data still being recorded by Flock’s systems, Goddard said it could still be useful to have if the department does renew its contract with the company.
Motorola Solutions and Axon Enterprise also provide ALPR technology to the LAPD. On Tuesday, Goddard said data from those companies is owned by the customer and that, at least with Axon, they don’t even have access to the data.
“The data is solely the customer’s and the customer does with that data what the customer wants to do,” he said.
The board also approved other recommendations in a report by the Office of Inspector General, which looked at ALPR data from a two-month period from Aug. 1 to September 30, 2025.
The report recommended the LAPD suspend installation of new ALPR cameras and entering into any new contracts until the city gathers additional public input and conducts a broader reassessment of vendors and data-sharing practices. Any new agreements with vendors would need to be approved by the commission and include enforceable action.
The OIG also recommended the LAPD strengthen its oversight of ALPR data access through annual audits of the system and that it establish a standardized process for documenting traffic stops and other enforcement action initiated by ALPR alerts.
During the two-month period reviewed by the OIG, 74 arrests were made from 68 stops generated by ALPR alerts. The system also made 161 alerts to stolen vehicles that were not actually stolen, which Goddard said mostly amounted to owners who did not know family members took their vehicles and failed to call police back to provide an update. In all, the cameras made more than 210 million license plate reads and generated more than 50,000 alerts.
Prior to the meeting, the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition held a rally outside LAPD headquarters to demand that the department permanently end its use of ALPR technology. A number of speakers at the meeting also voiced their concern over the technology.
Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado, whose district includes Boyle Heights, also issued a statement welcoming the department’s decision to at least suspend use of Flock Technology. Jurado had introduced a motion in May calling for a review of the LAPD’s use of ALPR data.
“This was never about one vendor or one contract,” Jurado said. “It is about whether surveillance technology in Los Angeles is being used with clear rules, enforceable privacy protections, meaningful oversight, and full compliance with our sanctuary laws and civil rights commitments.”
But Goddard maintained the importance of the technology during Tuesday’s meeting. LAPD officials again stressed that data from the cameras was not being shared with federal agencies.
“We understand how real and sensitive a topic this is and while we may not agree on where we end up, it’s critical that we’re transparent,” Skobin said, “and that we have the strongest data privacy and security measures in place and that we’re compliant with all law and that ultimately we have the auditing in place and the self checks and balances to make sure that we’re doing things appropriately and when we’re not, those people are held accountable.”
Inspector General Matthew Barragan announced there will be a virtual listening session for ALPRs on July 30 from 4 to 6 p.m. Further details were not available.