The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners will consider recommendations Tuesday to suspend the deployment of automated license plate reader cameras pending additional oversight and public input.
The discussion comes three days after the Los Angeles Police Department announced Saturday that it had stopped working with surveillance technology company Flock Safety over concerns about how data collected by the cameras is used.
Flock Safety operates 138 pole-mounted cameras in Los Angeles. The department has used automated license plate reader technology, known as ALPRs, to identify stolen vehicles and vehicles associated with wanted suspects. Flock Safety, Axon Enterprise and Motorola Solutions all provide ALPR technology or related services to the LAPD.
Immigrant rights and civil liberties advocates have criticized Flock over reports that information collected by the company’s cameras could be shared with federal agencies and potentially used in immigration enforcement efforts.
On Tuesday, the Board of Police Commissioners is scheduled to receive an update on the status of an audit of the department’s ALPRs, and contract with Flock Safety.
LAPD Inspector General Matthew Barragan is expected to present findings from his review of the department’s use of the technology.
Barragan recommended suspending installation of new ALPR cameras and entering into no new ALPR-related contracts until the city gathers additional public input and conducts a broader reassessment of vendors and data-sharing practices, according to a report issued Friday by his office.
If the department continues using ALPR technology, the inspector general recommended requiring Police Commission approval for all contracts or agreements with vendors, regardless of cost or whether money changes hands.
According to the report, such agreements are necessary to establish enforceable standards governing data security, privacy protections, access controls, data retention and auditing, while ensuring accountability for how information is collected, used and shared.
The inspector general also recommended the department strengthen oversight of ALPR data access by amending policy to require annual audits —and to clearly state that any misuse of ALPR data may result in disciplinary action.
A final recommendation would have the department develop a standardized process for documenting traffic stops initiated by ALPR alerts.
Before the commission meeting, members of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition plan to rally outside LAPD headquarters to demand the department permanently end its use of ALPR technology.
“We refuse to let LAPD co-opt our community’s demands in their contract maneuvering,” according to a statement from the coalition. “No ‘new and improved’ contract, guardrails, or reforms will sanitize LAPD’s nefarious expansion of mass surveillance. All ALPRs, regardless of company or vendor, are harmful and violent. LAPD has exposed themselves, and we are calling out their bluff.”
City Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado welcomed the department’s decision to pause use of Flock technology. She introduced a motion in May calling for a review of the department’s use of automated license plate readers.
“LAPD’s decision to pause its use of Flock confirms exactly why we introduced this motion,” Jurado said in a statement Monday. “This was never just about one vendor or one contract.”
“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,” Jurado added.
Jurado said the next step should be immediate consideration of her motion by the City Council’s Public Safety Committee and called for a full public accounting before any new agreement is approved.
Over the weekend, LAPD Chief Information Officer Dean Gialamas said the department wants stronger contractual protections regarding ownership and control of data collected by Flock cameras and would suspend use of the system until those issues are resolved.
“The sticking point is around having very clear terms about who owns the data, what happens with the data once they collect,” Gialamas told the Los Angeles Times.
The LAPD’s three-year agreement with Flock expired Saturday.
LAPD officials previously said the L.A. City Attorney’s Office was working on a new contract. A representative for the city attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Flock told The Times that the LAPD’s decision came as a surprise.
“We are confident that through ongoing discussion with LAPD, we can clear up the current misconceptions that led to today’s disappointing pause,” the spokesperson told the newspaper. “We hope to resume our successful partnership with the department soon.”
Flock Safety, based in Atlanta, works with roughly 5,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide and has said it complies with California laws restricting the sharing of information with federal authorities.
In October 2025, the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights reported that Flock had tested an information-sharing program that allowed federal agencies to access license plate data collected by local agencies without those agencies’ knowledge or consent.
Since then, concerns about data sharing and privacy have led several jurisdictions, including Hillsborough, North Carolina, and Flagstaff, Arizona, to end or suspend their relationships with Flock.
In California, the cities of Santa Cruz, South Pasadena and Mountain View, along with Santa Clara County, have ended contracts with the company.