Push to install license plate readers comes amid questions about how data are shared

Since its creation more than a century ago, the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting has been in the lamppost business and little else.But in recent months, the little-known city agency has found itself pulled into a fierce debate over L.A.’s relationship with Flock Safety, a surveillance technology company that has been criticized for supplying data used to enable the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.In L.A., Flock operates dozens of automated license plate readers, which allow authorities to scan for vehicles that have been reported stolen or are registered to known fugitives, tracking their movements throughout the city.The devices are often mounted on municipal light poles, which makes the Bureau of Street Lighting responsible for their installation.Reports that Flock has shared license plate data with federal authorities, including U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have prompted dozens of mostly smaller cities across the country to end their relationship with the company.

But in L.A.it still has found willing customers, including the LAPD.

California Other cities have ended their relationships with Flock Safety over its ties to the federal government and concerns about cybersecurity and privacy.But connections in the L.A.

area endure.Hundreds of emails obtained by The Times through public records requests reveal how LAPD boosters, homeowner associations and elected officials have engaged in a months-long campaign to pressure the Bureau of Street Lighting to speed up installations of the plate readers.Flock, headquartered in Atlanta, said that it contracts with roughly 5,000 U.S.law enforcement agencies nationwide, and that its technology complies with a California law that limits what information can be shared with federal authorities.

A company spokesperson said that Flock’s technology is “built around transparency, accountability, and local control.”“Our customers own and control their data, which is deleted after 30 days ...