LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The Lubbock Police Department defended its use of Flock cameras during a presentation to city council Tuesday afternoon. Council members questioned Police Chief Seth Herman about how the cameras are used and who has access to the photos.<\/p>\n
The City of Lubbock entered into a two-year agreement with Flock last year to place automated license plate readers throughout the city. There are 12 fixed cameras, with two currently needing repairs. Six mobile flex cameras can be moved by police to high-traffic areas, and six more are awaiting TxDOT approval for installation.<\/p>\n
Chief Herman said the cameras are not a new technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese systems have been around since 1976, just so everyone\u2019s clear,\u201d Herman said.<\/p>\n
Herman told council members Flock cameras only take still photos, not video or audio. Flock currently keeps those photos for 30 days, but Herman said that will soon move to seven days.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite frankly, we don\u2019t have the time nor inclination to follow you around. I really don\u2019t care if you go to the store on what time. We\u2019re looking for criminals. We\u2019re looking to put criminals in jail, suppress crime, and decrease victimization, that\u2019s it, one hundred percent,\u201d Herman said.<\/p>\n
Search requirements and oversight<\/p>\n
Herman said there has to be a connection with criminal activity for police officers to use the cameras. Investigators have searched the Flock system more than 37,000 times so far this year, though the chief said many of those are multiple searches for the same incident.<\/p>\n
LPD data shows some of the top uses are for stolen vehicles, wanted persons and theft. Herman said officers are required to input several pieces of information before setting up a search.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have yet to encounter an event where an officer used this system nefariously or outside of the boundaries of our policies and procedures or state law. However, if we did, it would require not only an internal investigation, but also one at a criminal level,\u201d Herman said.<\/p>\n
Herman said the system automatically tracks unusual activity, and LPD audits those anomalies every six months, a frequency he said will likely increase.<\/p>\n
Council members raise questions<\/p>\n
Councilmember Harris asked whether the system sends information back if someone is driving without a driver\u2019s license, without insurance, or has prior tickets. Herman said those are not reasons an officer would use the system.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Wilson asked whether Flock, the company behind the cameras, has access to the city\u2019s information. Herman said Flock stores that information but does not have access to it.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Green said he\u2019s concerned about the cameras\u2019 constitutionality.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny lower court decisions that ruled in favor of this type of program and ruled against this type of program?\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy understanding is that the government currently views it as if you could put an officer at that intersection to monitor traffic, then you can put a camera,\u201d Herman said.<\/p>\n
Mayor, council members react<\/p>\n
Mayor Mark McBrayer said the chief\u2019s presentation gave him \u201cquite a bit of confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there are a lot of concerns out there among people, but…all of our Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure…the law, the Constitution, is we\u2019re protected against unreasonable search and seizure. Not against any or all,\u201d McBrayer said.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Dr. Jennifer Wilson had some concerns, but thanked the chief for all the department does to protect its citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I can tell you as a mama of two girls, if something was ever to happen to them, I hope you use every tool at your disposal to find my babies,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Christy Martinez-Garcia raised concerns about liability.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease always be mindful of these cameras and the liability that it could create for all of us,\u201d Martinez-Garcia said.<\/p>\n
Herman said it is the department\u2019s top priority to ensure there is no misuse of the system, saying crime would increase without it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout these cameras and technology similar to that, we\u2019re gonna need a heck of a lot more officers. I\u2019ll just be honest with you,\u201d Herman said.<\/p>\n
Data sharing agreements<\/p>\n
The department\u2019s transparency portal<\/a> lists several agreements LPD has with other law enforcement agencies across the state that can access photos taken by Flock cameras in Lubbock. That list does not include Customs and Border Protection. The information is available on LPD\u2019s website<\/a> under Crime and Safety.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The Lubbock Police Department defended its use of Flock cameras during a presentation to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[12803,14363,7976,7990,1710,34970,18010,992,7985,294,13876,149403,19098,124182,149404,406,47379,1524,18003,168,170,169,22642,662,2817,149405,672,40584,24336,73111,115368,105719,98694,137922,124021],"class_list":["post-430279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-agreement","tag-amendment","tag-amid","tag-brittany-crittenden","tag-camera","tag-chief","tag-christy-martinez-garcia","tag-city","tag-council","tag-crime","tag-criminal","tag-defend","tag-flock","tag-fourth","tag-gordon-harris","tag-government","tag-investigator","tag-jail","tag-jennifer-wilson","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-mark-mcbrayer","tag-mayor","tag-officer","tag-oversight","tag-police","tag-presentation","tag-privacy","tag-question","tag-questions","tag-seth-herman","tag-tim-green","tag-usage","tag-use"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430279","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=430279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}