Los Angeles Becomes Largest City to End Contract with Flock Over Privacy Concerns

Our Take

Credit to CiVL Dispatch for flagging this one: if Los Angeles really let its Flock Safety contract expire, that's not a small story. LA isn't a sleepy suburb dipping a toe into camera surveillance and then backing out — it's the second-largest police department in the country. When a department that size walks away, it gives every city council member in a smaller town cover to ask the same hard questions: who sees this data, how long is it kept, and what stops it from being shared with agencies chasing immigrants or people seeking abortion care out of state.

We've said it before and we'll keep saying it: these networks don't stay local. Flock's own dragnet lets agencies query other agencies' cameras across state lines, which means a "privacy concern" in one city can ripple into protection for people hundreds of miles away. LA stepping back doesn't delete the cameras already bolted to poles nationwide, but it does chip at the inevitability narrative Flock sales reps love to push — the idea that every city eventually signs on and nobody ever leaves.

If you want to see whether a contract like LAPD's old one is active in your own backyard, check our camera map, and if your city council hasn't had this conversation yet, here's how to start it.