{"id":385233,"date":"2026-07-24T16:11:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/385233\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T16:11:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:11:45","slug":"dallas-police-report-surge-in-vandalized-flock-cameras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/385233\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas police report ‘surge’ in vandalized Flock cameras"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

An automated license plate reader by Flock Safety\u00a0has been erected in the 200 block of N. Good Latimer Expy near downtown Dallas, February 18, 2026. The AI-assisted\u00a0cameras capture and analyze images of all passing vehicles and their license plates.<\/p>\n

Tom Fox\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

Dallas police have seen a \u201csurge in intentional damage\u201d of roadside cameras used to record license plates and other vehicle details in recent months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There have been 25 incidents in which Flock Safety cameras were intentionally vandalized or removed since March, Dallas Police Department spokesperson Allison Hudson said.<\/p>\n

Police began tracking the vandalism and removals in March, when the department counted 10 such incidents, she said.<\/p>\n

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Since then, the resulting costs to the city have been $2,450, though Flock has waived most of the replacement costs, Hudson said.<\/p>\n

The damage comes amid a growing national debate over the cameras.<\/p>\n

MORE ON FLOCK IN DALLAS: Hundreds of license-plate reading cameras blanket Dallas. Here’s how they’re used<\/a><\/p>\n

North Texas groups have protested their use, while critics have raised privacy concerns at public meetings in Dallas and other cities. Supporters say the cameras are an important investigative tool for law enforcement agencies across the country.<\/p>\n

The discourse has also reached Congress.<\/p>\n

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U.S. Rep. Keith Self, R-McKinney, introduced a bill earlier this month that would require federal law enforcement agencies to obtain warrants before accessing certain state and local surveillance data.<\/p>\n

A bipartisan House amendment to a federal highway reauthorization bill that would have sharply restricted the use of the cameras failed in committee in May.<\/p>\n

License plate-reading technology had been used in Dallas for more than a decade before the City Council approved a contract in 2022 with Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based company whose stationary, AI-assisted cameras have become a focus of the national debate. Dallas\u2019 camera network has expanded rapidly since then.<\/p>\n

In May 2025, the City Council approved a three-year, $5.7 million contract with Flock Safety. More than $3.9 million will be paid out from the city’s general fund, with the remainder coming from a nearly $1.7 million grant from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and a $125,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

FLOCK IN D-FW: After abortion report, North Texas cop used surveillance network to look for woman<\/a><\/p>\n

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There are now 670 cameras throughout the city.<\/p>\n

Police have begun mounting the cameras on nearby utility poles in response to vandalism.<\/p>\n

Most of the cameras, often installed on 12-foot poles topped by angled solar panels, were cut down at the base of the pole, Hudson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No arrests have been made. Hudson said investigators reviewed evidence in each case for workable leads, but delays between the damage and the department learning about it have left them without enough information to advance the cases.<\/p>\n

The latest case appeared Monday, when an officer responded to a camera off Military Parkway in Pleasant Grove that was \u201cintentionally damaged\u201d by an unknown person, according to an incident report.<\/p>\n

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Damage to or theft of Flock cameras has led to criminal investigations elsewhere in North Texas.<\/p>\n

In June, five cameras were reported missing in Carrollton. Police later identified two men and brought state jail felony theft charges against them, Assistant Chief Caleb West said Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An automated license plate reader by Flock Safety\u00a0has been erected in the 200 block of N. Good Latimer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[732,102,104,103,87998,88000,89139,92280],"class_list":["post-385233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-article","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-tp-dallas","tag-tp-dallas-city-council","tag-tp-dallas-police","tag-tp-pleasant-grove"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}