All Flock Safety surveillance cameras in Harris County’s Commissioner Precinct 4 will be decommissioned amid a growing public furor nationwide about how the data and information the cameras capture is saved, shared and accessed by law enforcement.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones, a Democrat up for reelection next month, announced Thursday that she had ordered her staff to decommission and cover the 48 security cameras and 13 license plate-reading cameras spread across her precinct, which covers parts of west Houston and the western portion of the county.
“I have heard my Precinct 4 residents’ legitimate concerns and am committed to addressing them,” Briones said in a prepared statement.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who earlier this year criticized Austin for decommissioning Flock cameras after a shooting, recently froze state funding for the cameras, taking more than 200 cameras in the Houston region offline.