LAPD lets contract with surveillance giant Flock expire

The Los Angeles Police Department will let its three-year contract with surveillance company Flock Safety expire Saturday, citing serious concerns about civil liberties and privacy, a senior official told news outlets. LAPD Chief Information Officer Dean Gialamas said the contract is not being renewed because of serious concerns around civil liberties and civil rights issues, particularly around privacy and the data collected from the cameras. Gialamas said the LAPD had to make a difficult decision to discontinue using Flock services until data, privacy, security and sharing concerns are ironed out through a contractual relationship. The department is seeking new contract language addressing privacy and data storage concerns, according to ABC7. Flock spokesperson Holly Beilin said the contract expiry caught the company by surprise and that Flock was confident it could clear up the current misconceptions that led to the contract's end. Beilin would not say which specific misconceptions she was referring to. The Atlanta-based company operates a network of at least 80,000 cameras across the United States. Several major U.S. cities, including Mountain View, California, and South Portland, Maine, have also stopped working with Flock over privacy worries and concerns that federal immigration officials used the cameras to track people in violation of local sanctuary city policies.