From Dallas Express · Dallas Express · · 2m
Texas cities split over Flock cameras
23 Texas governments have pulled back from license plate readers, but Conroe just funded 51 more cameras without a separate vote.
In brief
23 Texas governments have pulled back from license plate readers, but Conroe just funded 51 more cameras without a separate vote. Nobody measures Flock the same way, so taxpayers cannot tell what the cameras deliver or who is searching their data. Originally reported by Dallas Express.
Conroe keeps paying
Conroe's adopted budget holds $127,500 a year for 51 Flock cameras. The council never voted on Flock alone, it passed inside a 4-2 budget vote.
Twenty-three walked back
As of September 6, at least 23 Texas governments had ended, declined, suspended or shrunk their Flock deployments.
Abbott pulled state money
An August 27 directive from Gov. Greg Abbott barred state agencies from spending state funds on the cameras. Locally funded systems like Conroe's were untouched.
894,000 scans, 642 searches
Conroe's system logged roughly 894,000 unique scans in 30 days against 642 investigator searches. Since August 2025, Flock played a role in 84 of 202 warrant arrests.
What Conroe did not show
The city's public presentation left out its sharing list, full search logs and case-by-case results. Police said no complaint or evidence of local misuse had surfaced.
“It deserves a fundamentally different level of scrutiny before we keep paying for it.”
Dallas cuts, then keeps
DPD planned to cancel 321 state grant-funded cameras on September 15, leaving about 360. The council still rejected a proposal to strip $1.5 million in local funding.
Dallas numbers contradict themselves
DPD called Flock the primary factor in 13 homicide cases this year, then told council six days earlier it assisted 14. Retention is listed as 365 days in one document, 30 in another.
Who can search Dallas data
DPD narrowed shared search access from 1,508 agencies to 202 Texas ones, with no federal users. Public records did not include either roster or a federal query history.
Search counts differ wildly
WFAA counted 63,586 Dallas searches in 2025. The Dallas Morning News reviewed Flock logs and reported more than 800,000. Nobody has reconciled the two.
Pflugerville and Wylie out
Pflugerville voted unanimously to drop Flock instead of paying $87,500 for 28 cameras. Wylie went 7-0 to stop automatic renewal on its $27,000 contract.
The Lufkin case
A Lufkin officer was indicted on 100 counts of misuse of official information. An affidavit alleged he searched an ex-girlfriend's plate more than 10,000 times.
No common measure
Fort Worth credits Flock with 2,000 arrests but never published the math. A study of 216 agencies found an 11% drop in reported vehicle theft, with no faster recoveries.
What to remember
Nobody measures Flock the same way, so taxpayers cannot tell what the cameras deliver or who is searching their data.
