{"id":418007,"date":"2026-08-27T07:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418007\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T07:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:00:14","slug":"could-the-flock-camera-debate-influence-the-race-for-texas-governor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418007\/","title":{"rendered":"Could the Flock camera debate influence the race for Texas governor?"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are becoming a flashpoint<\/a> across Texas, raising questions about privacy and public safety. Now, the debate is entering the race for Texas governor ahead of the November election.<\/p>\n

Advocacy groups estimate there are thousands of ALPR cameras across Texas, and backlash in cities including Austin<\/a> has fueled a broader conversation about how the technology is used and who has access to the data.<\/p>\n

Flock Safety is one of the most widely used ALPR providers in Texas. Its cameras photograph passing vehicles and record identifying information. Police agencies can search those records across participating camera networks, in some cases spanning thousands of systems nationwide.<\/p>\n

Supporters say ALPRs can help police quickly locate suspects, stolen vehicles and vehicles connected to crimes. Opponents raise concerns about privacy, data sharing and potential misuse.<\/p>\n

Beyond party lines<\/p>\n

Baylor University political science professor Pat Flavin said the ALPR controversy, like data centers, is unusual in today\u2019s political climate because it can cut across party lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re some of the few issues that seem to draw bipartisan concern and in some cases, outrage,\u201d Flavin said.<\/p>\n

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican, wrote an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle this month calling on Abbott to halt new surveillance-technology purchases and deployments until stronger safeguards are put in place.<\/p>\n

Flock Safety defends its technology, arguing it helps law enforcement solve crimes, and that new systems are in place to prevent misuse.<\/p>\n

Austin police have not been able to use most license plate cameras after the city chose not to renew its contract with Flock Safety last year.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement groups, like the Austin Police Association and the Texas Municipal Police Association, backed the use of ALPR technology in the wake of a May shooting spree in Austin.<\/p>\n

Gov. Greg Abbott criticized Austin’s decision not to use the cameras at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just one of the ways in which Travis County and the City of Austin are behind the ball as it concerns solving crimes, preventing crimes,\u201d Abbott said in May.<\/a><\/p>\n

ALSO| Pflugerville City Council denies new agreement with Flock Safety<\/a><\/p>\n

Hinojosa ad attacks Abbott on ALPRs<\/p>\n

Democratic candidate for governor Gina Hinojosa\u2019s campaign highlighted the use of ALPR cameras in Texas in an ad released this week targeting Abbott. The ad points to the Texas Department of Public Safety\u2019s contract with Flock Safety. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only 10,000 Flock cameras reading your plate, logging where you sleep and pray, no warrant needed in Greg Abbott\u2019s Texas,\u201d the ad says.<\/p>\n

State records show DPS currently has a contract with Flock Safety carrying a maximum value of more than $28.5 million.<\/p>\n

Flavin said the divide over license plate readers and public safety could matter in a close contest, even if it only shifts a small number of voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it could play a factor at the margins. So, take someone who’s concerned about Flock cameras in their community, taking pictures of their vehicles that drive by or of a proposed data center,\u201d Flavin said, “And even if they’re strongly opposed to that, say, if you’re a Republican, does that outweigh your allegiance to the Republican Party? And also, all the good things that you view that Gov. Greg Abbott has done?”<\/p>\n

Abbott\u2019s campaign did not respond to a request for comment about ALPRs and Hinojosa\u2019s ad.<\/p>\n

CBS Austin also requested a comment from Texas DPS for more details on its contract with Flock and how many cameras the agency has deployed. The agency did not respond ahead of our deadline.<\/p>\n

Will it matter in November?<\/p>\n

Flavin cautioned that even if the issue energizes some voters, Texas\u2019 political landscape remains a major hurdle for Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think any enthusiasm among democrats today, I think there are real reasons to be optimistic, should also be perhaps tempered with the just underlying partisan lean of Texas. So Texas does not overnight become, by any means, a Democratic state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The latest polling from the Texas Politics Project<\/a> this month found Abbott leading Hinojosa, 45% to 40%. Ten percent of voters said they still “haven’t thought about it enough to have an opinion.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are becoming a flashpoint across Texas, raising questions about privacy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-418007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418007","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=418007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}