LAPD license plate reader plan for Western Avenue stalls as council district declines Axon camera donation

The Los Angeles Police Department's plan to install automated license plate readers along Western Avenue to target suspected sex trafficking is no longer moving forward. Local news site LA Local reports that Council District 13, which covers the stretch in question, declined a donation of cameras from weapons and technology developer Axon Enterprise, and the district is now considering cameras that would not use license plate reader technology.

Eighteen cameras were meant to be running by July

The LAPD had planned to install 18 cameras along Western Avenue between Olympic and Santa Monica boulevards, with live-feed monitoring and license plate recognition technology, and the cameras could have been operating by July. The cameras were expected to be funded by Council Districts 13 and 10, but District 13 has pulled its funding. In October, the City Council voted 10-4 to delay the LAPD's pilot to mount Axon AI license plate reader cameras on street lights, sending the plan to the Public Safety Committee to review privacy and data safeguards.

Police confirm nothing installed; project on hold

At an Olympic Division Community Police Advisory Board meeting on November 4, Senior Lead Officer Harry Cho said the cameras had been expected to be funded by Districts 13 and 10 but that District 13 had pulled its funding; another senior lead officer, Lucy Bermudez, confirmed on Thursday that no cameras have been installed along the Western Avenue corridor and the project is on hold, and that there are currently no city-operated cameras there. A spokesperson for District 13 said the replacement cameras would be maintained by the Bureau of Street Lighting, and Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez is expected to bring a proposal to the City Council before the end of the year.

Meant to fight trafficking ahead of the World Cup and Olympics

The LAPD initially described the cameras as part of an effort to combat human trafficking along Western Avenue ahead of the World Cup and the 2028 Olympics. At the November 4 advisory board meeting, Officer Dan Chavez said an operation that morning had resulted in multiple arrests related to sex work, including one person arrested on suspicion of pimping. The replacement cameras now under consideration by District 13 would not use license plate reader technology, and no details have been published.

(Sources: LA Local; Los Angeles Documenters. Photo: file image.)