Alisa Simmons, the Tarrant County Commissioner of Precinct 2, and Tim O’Hare, the Tarrant County judge, listen to lawyer Joe Nixon address the questions regarding the proposed redistricting of the county during a Commissioners Court Meeting at the Tarrant County Administration Building in Fort Worth on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.
Chris Torres
ctorres@star-telegram.com
Over the past few months, Flock license plate readers have become a hot topic across the United States.
In response, Tarrant County commissioners asked Sheriff Bill Waybourn to come to their Sept. 1 meeting and brief them on how the sheriff’s office uses Flock cameras. At that discussion, Waybourn lauded Flock cameras as the best tool in their arsenal and said the cameras are misunderstood by the public.
The county has six cameras, but there are 949 in all across Tarrant that are owned by cities and homeowners associations. Any law enforcement agency using Flock Safety is able to access the database by searching for a specific license plate number with a valid reason for search.
Here’s how county judge candidates responded to the sheriff’s presentation.
Issue: Flock camerasTim O’Hare, incumbent
Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare’s two main questions surrounded security of the data collected and limiting access.
O’Hare asked Waybourn if it was possible to reduce the number of people in the sheriff’s department who could access the database. Waybourn said the 130 people with access are mainly in the patrol, fugitive and undercover divisions. In contrast, over 1,200 officers have access to the Criminal Justice Information Services, which Waybourn said has far more information on people.
The judge was also skeptical about how Flock protects data collected from the cameras. The representative from Flock, Ian Leslie, said all data collected by the county’s cameras is owned by the county and housed within a cloud to which Flock has very limited access. O’Hare asked for details about how misuse is caught within the system and the auditing process of flagged users.
Alisa Simmons, Precinct 2 commissioner
Democrat Commissioner Alisa Simmons was primarily concerned with privacy, cost and policing the use of the system.
She asked questions about what information is gathered, whether queries are available to the public via open records, how often the Flock policy is updated and the operating cost of the county’s six cameras.
Waybourn and Leslie answered: Only the license plate number is captured in the photos; the queries are public record; the policy is updated routinely; and Flock has an annual subscription.
Simmons said she sees the legitimate use law enforcement has for the cameras, but is still frightened by the collecting of people’s data.
“We have to ask some serious questions about privacy, transparency, oversight and how that information is used,” she said.
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Rachel Royster is a news and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, specifically focused on Tarrant County. She joined the newsroom after interning at the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Capital Community News in DC. A Houston native and Baylor grad, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading and being outside. She welcomes any and all news tips to her email.