LAPD Outsources Surveillance to a Private AI Camera

A Private Camera Appeared on Ventura Boulevard

Sometime in April 2026, a mobile surveillance unit showed up at the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Ethel Avenue in Studio City, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. The LAPD requested it after a string of at least six burglaries hit the area. Mayor Karen Bass directed the department to increase patrols along Ventura Boulevard [1][2].

But instead of deploying more cops, the LAPD brought in a private company. ACS Security, a Los Angeles-based firm, planted their mobile unit at the intersection. It watches 24 hours a day, seven days a week [1].

This isn’t the first time. ACS told KTLA it’s the second time they’ve deployed in the area [1]. The company says it plans to keep the unit there “for as long as LAPD requests it.”

How the AI Decides You’re “Suspicious”

The ACS unit uses artificial intelligence to analyze its video feed in real time. The AI classifies what it sees into categories: people, animals, vehicles. Then it makes a judgment call. If the algorithm decides something is “suspicious,” it sends an alert [1].

Here’s the part that should bother you: those alerts don’t go to the LAPD. They go to a private call center run by ACS Security. Human operators at that call center decide what happens next, including whether to dispatch a response [1][2].

Think about that chain of decisions. A private company’s algorithm defines “suspicious.” A private company’s employees decide the response. The public has no input on what “suspicious” means, no access to the algorithm’s training data, and no way to challenge a classification.

ACS claims the system has produced results. A company spokesperson told reporters they’ve “provided information, footage, license plates to LAPD that have actively assisted in their investigations, and some of those cases led to arrests” [1]. How many arrests? They didn’t say. From how much footage? They didn’t say that either.

Nobody Voted on This

No city council vote authorized the deployment. No public hearing discussed the privacy implications. No community board reviewed the technology. The LAPD requested it, ACS Security showed up, and a neighborhood got an AI surveillance system [2].

This pattern (police departments bringing in private surveillance vendors through procurement or informal arrangements rather than legislative approval) is spreading across the country. And it’s the quiet version of what privacy advocates have been screaming about for years.

When the LAPD wanted to expand its real-time surveillance camera network to 10,000 cameras across the city in late 2023, the city council actually voted on it: 12-1 to move forward [3][4]. That vote was controversial. But at least it happened.

The ACS deployment skipped that step entirely. When the surveillance comes from a vendor rather than a city-owned system, the approval process evaporates.

The Bigger Problem: Vendor-Laundered Surveillance

Studio City isn’t an anomaly. It’s a model.

Flock Safety, a surveillance company with over 5,000 law enforcement customers, recently expanded its AI capabilities to flag “suspicious” driving patterns and report them to police automatically. The ACLU has documented how Flock’s system analyzes movement patterns nationwide, with no transparency about the algorithm’s logic, training data, or error rates [5].

In New Orleans, the ACLU discovered the police department secretly used real-time facial recognition through a private camera network called Project NOLA, without city council approval or public disclosure [6]. Cameras scanned every face that walked by and sent real-time alerts to officers’ phones.

The common thread: private companies aren’t subject to the same transparency requirements as government agencies. They don’t have to respond to public records requests. Their algorithms are proprietary. Their contracts are negotiated outside public view. And oversight bodies struggle to even understand what’s being deployed, let alone regulate it [6].

When police departments hire these vendors instead of building their own surveillance infrastructure, they effectively launder the surveillance through a private company. The capability is identical. The accountability vanishes.

The Neighborhood Is Split

Not everyone in Studio City objects. Skylar Logan, a resident, told ABC7: “I love it. I say more cameras, more surveillance just to make us safer” [2]. Tracey Ormandy, whose home was burglarized twice, also welcomed the cameras.

But Logan also admitted: “It hasn’t stopped the crime from happening” [2].

That’s the catch with surveillance deployments framed as crime prevention. They arrive with promises of safety, stay long after the immediate crisis passes, and produce results that are impossible to independently verify because the data stays with the vendor. ACS Security decides what to share with the public about its own effectiveness. There’s no audit. There’s no independent review.

The Questions Nobody’s Answering

• What data does ACS retain? How long does the company keep footage from Ventura Boulevard? Neither ACS nor the LAPD has disclosed a data retention policy for this deployment
• Who can access the footage? Does only ACS see it? LAPD? Other agencies? Is it shared with federal law enforcement or immigration authorities?
• What defines “suspicious”? The AI makes classifications, but no one has published the criteria. Research consistently shows that “suspicious behavior” algorithms reflect the biases baked into their training data [5]
• What happens when the burglaries stop? ACS says the unit stays “as long as LAPD requests it.” Temporary deployments have a way of becoming permanent
• What contract governs this? Is ACS donating the service? Is the LAPD paying? Is there a written agreement with termination clauses, data deletion requirements, or use restrictions?

What You Can Do

• If you live in Studio City: Contact your city council representative (Council District 2) and ask whether this deployment was formally approved. Ask for the contract or agreement with ACS Security
• File a public records request: Use the City of Los Angeles public records portal to request all communications between LAPD and ACS Security regarding this deployment. The LA Controller’s office has documented the city’s surveillance technology gaps before [7]
• Limit your exposure: AI surveillance cameras rely on patterns. Varying your routes and timing reduces the profile these systems can build on you. It shouldn’t be necessary. But here we are
• Support surveillance oversight: Organizations like the ACLU and EFF are pushing for legislation requiring public approval before police departments deploy AI surveillance, whether they build it or buy it

References

1. KTLA: AI Crime Cameras Surveilling Valley Neighborhood After Spike in Break-Ins (April 2026)
2. ABC7: New Mobile Surveillance Unit Installed Along Ventura Boulevard in Studio City (April 2026)
3. ABC7: Los Angeles City Council Looks to Expand LAPD Surveillance Program (2023)
4. LA Public Press: The LAPD Wants Access to 10,000 Cameras Across the City (December 2023)
5. ACLU: Surveillance Company Flock Now Using AI to Report Us to Police (2025)
6. ACLU: ACLU Sounds Alarm on New Orleans Police Department’s Secret Use of Real-Time Facial Recognition
7. LA Controller: Protecting Privacy Makes a Smarter L.A.

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