Following the bad press that continues to dog the city of Los Angeles' move to “free” Google email service, the computer giant agreed this week to cover the costs of delaying City Hall's transition to gmail, costs incurred mainly because the Los Angeles Police Department isn't happy with the security of the online service.

Google stated it would cover the $415,000 cost of the delay and indicated that it might cover the price of additional delays if its email service isn't in full effect at City Hal by next June.

Google's service is based out of servers. The LAPD has concerns that storing some of its information off-site could hinder its efforts to meet security requirements set by the state Justice Department and the FBI.

Google insists the data — broken up into bits and pieces together only at the user's request — would be safe.

The move to Google from Novell email has been controversial at a time when the city has been treading financial water. As we reported previously, the $415,000 in extra costs would have put the total price of moving to “free” email at nearly $2 million above what the city was spending on its previous email service.

-With reporting from City News Service. Got news? Email us. Follow us on Twitter, too: @dennisjromero.

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