LAPD lets contract with surveillance giant Flock expire

	LAPD lets contract with surveillance giant Flock expire(techcrunch.com)
	455 points by forks 21 hours ago \| 397 comments
	tl;dr: The LAPD is letting its three-year contract with license plate surveillance firm Flock Safety expire, citing serious civil liberties, privacy, and data-sharing concerns, and wants new contractual language before considering renewal. As the third-largest US police department, LAPD is one of Flock's biggest customers, and its departure follows similar exits by Mountain View, CA and South Portland, ME amid backlash over privacy, sanctuary-city violations, false positives leading to wrongful stops, and security lapses exposing cameras and data.
	HN Discussion: ~Flock still owns and operates the cameras after contract expiry, making the exit largely symbolic ↑Governments should be legally barred from buying data they couldn't legally collect themselves ~LAPD's privacy concerns are ironic given their extensive civil rights violation history ~Questioning the value of surveillance when police fail to act on repeat offenders anyway •Seeking privacy-respecting alternatives where cities control the data themselves