Plano has disabled over 90 Flock cameras after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to stop funding AI-powered license plate readers, officials said.
For the time being, the city will not seek alternative funding for the technology, which Police Chief Ed Drain called a “game-changer” for Plano’s public safety efforts, as concerns over privacy, surveillance and misuse of the cameras grow.
The city’s contract with Flock, which Drain said was funded through a roughly $300,000 annual grant from the Texas Anti-Gang Program, ended after the governor’s order. Plano had used Flock cameras for about three years, he said.
As recently as Monday, residents have brought concerns to the City Council regarding surveillance, including comments against the department’s recently approved program to deploy drones as first responders in emergency situations, citing privacy concerns.
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Dallas police seek funding to avoid cutting Flock cameras
Kyle McGeehan touted Collin County municipalities like Wylie and Princeton which have restricted Flock camera use.
“Their elected leadership put liberty above security,” he told the council Monday. “It turns out that mass surveillance can be curtailed, and that all it takes is some political willpower.”
Debates across Texas on AI-powered license plate readers — of which Flock Safety is a dominant vendor — have sought to reconcile their value in public safety efforts with concerns that the technology can be misused and track residents with little public oversight.
Drain said losing Flock cameras “is going to be a major hit for us.” The technology has helped the city keep crime rates low, he said. Plano came second in a national ranking of the safest big cities — and No. 1 in Texas, according to an evaluation by financial technology company SmartAsset.
“There’s no doubt about it,” Drain said. “It is going to hurt us to lose them.”
Related:
Texas to cut off state funding for Flock cameras, Abbott’s office says
Earlier this week, Plano police used Flock technology in a neighboring municipality to locate a man suspected of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend in Plano, Drain said.
Officials will “see what happens legislatively” at the state and federal level before seeking funding again, according to the police chief. Meanwhile, Dallas police are seeking to keep the city’s 690 Flock cameras operating through alternative funding.
Drain said the city still has license plate reading cameras through a contract with Motorola, but these cameras are not in fixed locations like Flock’s. Public perception also plays a role in the department’s decision to not seek alternative funding.
“The backlash against Flock is so great,” he said. “The juice is not worth the squeeze.”
Without the cameras, Drain said, the department will leverage other technology, like drones and the city’s real-time information center.
“I understand the public’s concern about surveillance, but we just have to make sure we have good auditing procedures in place,” Drain said. “We did, here in Plano.”
Flock cameras around Plano are still in place until the company takes them down but the city is no longer using them, according to the police department.
Staff writer Chase Rogers contributed to this report.
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This article originally published at ‘It is going to hurt us to lose them’: Plano disables Flock cameras after state funds rescinded.