The Flock Safety camera vote is tonight. And now we find out which of West Hollywood’s City Council members will, ahem, flock together — and which ones will fly the coop.
Staff’s report going into tonight’s meeting contains a finding city officials had not previously disclosed: fourteen out-of-state agencies indirectly accessed West Hollywood’s license plate reader data between December 2023 and February 2026. The City was not notified about any of them.
The access wasn’t a hack. It came through Flock’s interagency sharing network — the same feature that lets law enforcement agencies collaborate on investigations across jurisdictions. One of those fourteen agencies was federal. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Staff makes it clear there wasn’t any evidence data was used by ICE or for immigration enforcement. However, their lookback did find an issue that is sure to raise flags for some. Turns out, Flock operates a single shared account for all the LASD stations and then cities are contracted individually. The way the system is set up now it can tell you which outside agency gained access, no problem there. What’s not so easy to figure out? What exactly they were looking at and why.
Still, Staff is not recommending ditching the program altogether tonight. Or, as Councilmember Lauren Meister put it back at the February 16th council meeting — “throwing the baby out with the bath water.” Instead, they want to amend the contract. Have language that prohibits the use of City data for immigration enforcement. They also wanna know if any federal agency seeks access and if so to be notified immediately. Out-of-state requests will require City Attorney approval. They also want monthly audits. That’s the package Staff is bringing.
If Flock won’t take the amendments, Staff said it can end the agreement. That’s option four of five.
The Contracts
West Hollywood has two active agreements with Flock Safety. Neither one went out to bid. Both were sole-source.
The first was signed April 3, 2023. Thirty-nine license plate reader cameras. Runs through June 30, 2028. Total cost not to exceed $501,150.
The second contract was finalized a year ago. This is the one that set up the fifty-four fixed video cameras and a mobile trailer. The contract goes through June 30, 2029. Year one cost $220,750. Years two through five, $187,000 a year. Cap is $968,750.
Both contracts together, the City is in for roughly $1.47 million. Flock keeps the hardware. LASD West Hollywood Station runs the system. Footage is gone after 30 days, seven days for Wing Replay. Flock can share footage with outside parties. The conditions for that are broad.
Danny Rivas outlined at the February 19 council meeting that backing out isn’t free. The plate reader contract costs $19,500 to terminate. Five hundred dollars per camera. Thirty days notice. The video contract is an even tougher exit. The City has already written checks totaling $139,750. Another $81,000 invoice hits when all 54 cameras are installed. That money isn’t coming back.
What the Cameras Have Done
Over three years the plate readers helped recover roughly 175 stolen vehicles in the City.
One case: a suspect tried to rob people at gunpoint and fired at them as they ran. Investigators used ALPR data to identify the vehicle. Two days later the camera caught it re-entering the City. Deputies stopped it. They got the gun and the clothes from the crime.
Two hit-and-run cases. One driver hit a pedestrian and fled. Another hit a bicyclist and left. In both cases investigators used plate data to find them.
Mayor John Heilman made the case for the cameras at the February 19 meeting.
“We’ve had people being attacked on the street, people being held up on the street with guns,” Heilman said. “I think these are tools that we agreed to, as a council, to have installed in our city. And I think that’s our responsibility — to keep our residents safe.”
ICE Shows Up With a Warrant
Staff asked the City Attorney’s office what happens then. The answer depends on what kind of warrant.
Administrative warrants are issued by ICE itself. Civil in nature. Under California law, the City likely faces no immediate consequences for not complying with one. Judicial warrants are signed by a judge. Those the City generally has to follow. Voluntary cooperation with immigration enforcement can be banned by contract. A court order is something else.
Councilmember John Erickson pressed Captain Fanny Lapkin of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station on exactly that point at the February 19 meeting.
“If a federal judge signs a subpoena, we have to” comply, Lapkin said.
“So if the federal government, which has never done anything like this in the past, does this,” Erickson said, “you would have to turn over all relevant data to the federal government, no matter what it would be pertaining to.”
Lapkin confirmed it.
Flock sent the City a written attestation February 27. It said Flock does not control how customer data is shared. Sharing is set by the customer. No data breaches affecting LASD data.
The LASD has its own review going. The County Board of Supervisors told the department last September to rewrite its ALPR privacy policy to bar disclosure for civil immigration enforcement. The department missed the January deadline. Meet-and-confer requirements with bargaining units. As of January 13, they committed to 90-day updates.
Tonight
This is the first formal Council action on Flock since the 5-0 vote February 2 that started the review. That vote looked unanimous. February 19 showed it wasn’t. Mayor John Heilman and Councilmember Lauren Meister wanted to keep installing cameras. Councilmember John Erickson and then-Councilmember Chelsea Byers wanted to stop.
Get your popcorn. The show starts at 6 p.m. You can watch on Spectrum Channel 10 or WeHoTV right here.
Related Coverage:
• West Hollywood Reviews Flock Deal After Feds Accessed Camera Data
• West Hollywood Council Divided Over Flock Cameras as Rollout Resumes
• A Federal Judge Said It Best: “Flock Flocked Up.” Now West Hollywood Has to Decide.
I am interested if anyone ever asked The Ackerman Family if they wanted a painted white bike memorial placed on Fountain Avenue? This appears to go against all the policy the bike coalition wants the city to reach out to the family first if they want any memorial mentioned. This item is nothing more than to push through bike fatalities and no other fatality that may happen within West Hollywood.