Bastrop City Council voted Tuesday to end its contract with Flock Safety cameras.
The decision comes a week after the council unanimously voted to cover its Flock cameras, and places the city in a small but growing group of local governments in Texas ending contracts with the automated license plate reader (ALPR) company.
“We’ve had evidence that it [Flock] has helped us,” said Bastrop Mayor Ishmael Harris, according to local reporting. “But then there’s also, you know, where there’s been a misuse of technology and the concerns of the privacy, the encroachment, the data collection and access to our personal information and how much control we really have over that.”
Flock’s automated license plate readers use AI to scan license plates and save information about a vehicle, such as make, model, color, and other identifiers like cosmetic damage or bumper stickers.
Flock allows law enforcement officers to access its database without requiring a warrant. This has raised concerns over potential violations of citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights.
The resolution to decommission the camera system and terminate the contract was submitted to the council agenda by City Manager Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino.
One Bastrop resident praised councilmember Cynthia Meyer’s resolution “to not only stop the Flock contract, but to stop all future automatic license plate reader contracts as well,” calling it a “big win for privacy here in Bastrop.”
According to other reporting, Bastrop Mayor Pro-Tem John Kirkland proposed that “[Bastrop City Council] take out the word ‘Flock Safety’ so that it just simply says ‘following decommissioning, the city shall not enter into a new agreement for ALPR services or reactivate the city’s Flock LPR system without further authorization from the City Council.’”
The council voted unanimously in favor of the resolution.
A number of Texas localities have either rejected, cancelled, or deactivated their Flock contracts or cameras, with cities like El Paso, Elgin, and Wylie among the most recent.
An Overton Insights poll conducted in late August showed that over 63 percent of Texans opposed Flock cameras, with 51 percent stating they “strongly opposed” the technology.
Following significant local backlash, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a pause on state funding for Flock cameras in late August.
Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley has pushed back against the criticism, stating that “Flock does not own the data. Our customers do. So that’s cities, that’s neighborhoods, that’s business. By default, the data is stored for 30 days and then permanently deleted.”
Texas lawmakers are expected to evaluate potential guardrails for the technology in the upcoming legislative session.
