Thanks to security concerns, it appears Google may have botched what could have been a great feather in its cap.

The Los Angeles Times reported this weekend that the city of Los Angeles was set to switch 20,000 employees to Google's cloud-based e-mail system, but is holding back due to concerns by the city's police department over the security of its information.

The new system was to be installed by June 30, according to an article in SFGate.com, but has hit a roadblock because some of the system requirements laid out by the LAPD were not met. As a result, the LAPD will use both the old and new e-mail systems until at least November. Reports say that Google will cover the city's cost of extending the use of its older e-mail system.

Last September, Google beat out Microsoft for the city of LA contract, valued at more than $7 million.

A successful implementation of its e-mail system on such a scale would have made a nice customer reference for Google, which is not always convincing in its sales pitch to large organizations that the security and privacy of its application is up to snuff. Some universities, including Yale and the University of California-Davis, are suspending or postponing their moves to Gmail due to privacy concerns.