Texas bans Flock surveillance funding
Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to stop funding Flock Safety’s surveillance cameras after an investigation found at least $30 million was steered toward building out Texas’s Flock network through grants to local police. State agencies say funds cannot be used for Flock cameras, and state deployments total more than 4,400 cameras: the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority installed at least 3,200 since 2023, and the Department of Public Safety added nearly 1,200 more under a $15.9 million contract.
Governor Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to stop funding Flock Safety’s surveillance cameras in Texas, directing that state agency money not be used to support the company’s camera deployments. An investigation found that at least $30 million was steered toward building out Texas’s Flock network through grants to local police, identifying grant funding as a significant component of the network’s expansion. State agencies have been instructed that state funds cannot be used for Flock cameras, and that restriction applies to agency expenditures on the devices.
Despite the state restriction, most funding for city-level Flock camera installations comes from federal government sources rather than state funding streams. A 2023 law added a $1 surcharge to auto insurance policies to fight catalytic converter theft, and that surcharge was not discussed as a source for surveillance camera funding. The law’s $1 surcharge was intended to address catalytic converter theft and did not include surveillance cameras in its discussions of how funds would be used.
Flock Safety’s camera system records vehicle make, model, color and bumper stickers and can be networked for cross-country data access. Critics say the surveillance network operates with little oversight, raising privacy concerns and prompting scrutiny of how vehicle data are collected and shared. Reported misuse scandals have contributed to public unease and to questions about guardrails for the system’s use.
In one reported case, a Lufkin officer faced 100 counts of misusing public information for surveilling 11 people. Six Texas departments had officers on leave or under investigation in the past month. Governor Greg Abbott described a “crackdown” underway as cities canceled contracts amid privacy concerns and misuse scandals. Privacy concerns and misuse scandals drew public attention.
Senator Bernie Sanders planned to introduce federal legislation to halt AI mass surveillance, announcing an intended federal legislative response to mass surveillance enabled by artificial intelligence. Flock planned a nationwide license plate scanning fleet that would have enlisted Uber drivers to gather data, a corporate expansion plan that would have used drivers to collect vehicle plate information for the network. Flock CEO Garrett Langley said Americans should ‘compromise’ on privacy. Langley added that those who frame the argument as a choice between privacy and safety are ‘prioritizing the wrong thing.’ These federal and corporate actions were part of the reporting on responses to Flock Safety and related surveillance issues.
Texas moved to halt state funding for Flock Safety surveillance cameras, citing privacy concerns and reported misuse by law enforcement. The move followed reporting on extensive deployments and allegations of improper access and surveillance, which led several cities to cancel contracts and prompted administrative investigations in multiple departments. State officials noted that many local installations have been financed through federal grants, so local deployments remain in place even as state agencies are barred from using state funds for the cameras.
