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Want to weigh in on LAPD's use of license plate readers? Here's how
Communities across the country are terminating ties with automated license plate reader companies.
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Justin Sullivan
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Getty Images
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The Los Angeles Police Department recently suspended its contract with Flock Safety, a surveillance company whose use of AI-powered automated license plate readers has raised questions about civil liberties and data sharing in communities nationwide.
That doesn't mean LAPD’s relationship with Flock is over.
The department said it let its previous agreement with Flock lapsed due to questions over who owns and who can access the data gathered in the city. Currently, LAPD officials are negotiating a new deal, which, they say, will include more safeguards.
How you can have a say
For Angelenos who want to weigh in on the move, the LAPD’s Office of the Inspector General will hold a public meeting on July 30.
Chad Marlow, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, said he believes community input is crucial when it comes to this technology. He said that input should determine how — or even if— localities decide to implement license plate readers.
Police departments, he said, can get “very tunnel-visioned on law enforcement motives, and they don't think about community impact . . . If you want to come up with the right motives, so you come up with the right solutions, you need to start with listening to people in the community.”
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What law enforcement says about Flock technology
Law enforcement agencies say the tech helps them with criminal investigations and makes it easier to locate stolen vehicles.
One local example: Costa Mesa voted this week 6-1 to keep its Flock contract. Officials cited success in three missing person cases, 20 stolen car recoveries, as well as helping solve 10 sexual assaults, according to Voice of OC coverage of the meeting.
That said, even in cities where elected officials have touted successes, more and more questions are being asked about who has access to the data gathered locally.
Data privacy concerns
In Greater L.A., cities like South Pasadena and South Gate have moved to cut ties with Flock over privacy concerns. So has the Oxnard Police Department.
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L.A. residents have expressed concerns about the misuse and abuse of data. Public outcry sharpened after reports that some local law enforcement agencies illegally shared license plate reader data with federal immigration agents.
The ACLU’s Marlow, who specializes in privacy, surveillance and technology issues, said some cities using the Flock technology scan plates against existing hot lists and then immediately delete the data.
“If that is your goal, identifying cars of interest to law enforcement, then you have no need to store the data for any more than a couple of minutes,” he said. “And you certainly don't have a need to share it broadly.”
He said it shouldn't be used for tracking “what doctors' offices you go to, what political meetings you go to, what religious institutions you go to.”
ACLU's toolkit
A toolkit developed by Marlow and his ACLU colleagues. It walks community members through how to discover whether Flock or similar companies have deployed cameras in their neighborhoods.
The toolkit encourages community members to ask themselves:
- What specific problem does [my] community want to address?
- Does mass surveillance actually fix the issue?
- Are we just throwing new technology at a problem that it cannot solve?
How to weigh-in on the LAPD’s Flock negotiations
When: The public listening session will take place on Thursday, July 30, at 4:00 p.m. on Zoom at this link.
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How to get up to speed: The Office of the Inspector General also shared a report on the LAPD’s automatic license plate reader system.
Kevin Tidmarsh contributed to this reporting.
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