Flock Security is hitting a tough patch with one in all its greatest prospects.
The Los Angeles Police Division let its cope with the surveillance firm expire over the previous weekend, a spokesperson of the division advised Enterprise Insider on Monday.
“We needed to handle a number of 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 mentioned.
The LAPD is amongst Flock’s largest authorities prospects. The Atlanta-based firm operates a nationwide community of greater than 80,000 cameras that scan license plates to assist regulation enforcement businesses hint automobiles.
An LAPD audit report launched earlier in July mentioned 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 mentioned that Flock had carried out an information-sharing pilot program that allowed federal businesses to entry license plate knowledge collected by native regulation enforcement businesses with out these businesses’ data 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 not too long ago lined the corporate’s cameras with trash baggage after an inside assessment discovered what officers described as “egregious violations” of metropolis coverage, together with hundreds of immigration-related searches. In Evanston, Illinois, officers mentioned Flock reinstalled cameras after the town had moved to take away them, prompting a cease-and-desist letter earlier than the gadgets had 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 canine, or jailed after their automobiles had been incorrectly flagged. One man in Toledo was arrested and suffered severe 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 out to be 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 throughout the Tremendous Bowl sparked widespread backlash.
In a separate incident, US Lawyer 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 advised Enterprise Insider that the corporate could 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 mentioned, “We stay dedicated to persevering with our energetic and ongoing conversations with LAPD to discover a path ahead.”
