Betting that funding will be restored, some Texas agencies accept Flock’s offer to keep cameras on

Dallas will keep more than 300 Flock Safety cameras originally slated for removal after the surveillance company paused certain agencies’ payments for the devices for 90 days, a move made in response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s state funding freeze for the controversial cameras.

At least two other cities and one county — Addison, New Braunfels and Johnson County — have also been granted extensions allowing them to keep cameras that were supported by state grants, according to presentations to their city councils or statements from the agencies. Local officials from those areas said in city council and county commission meetings that without the help from Flock, they likely would have shut down the affected devices.

Flock’s intervention aimed at holding on to Texas surveillance contracts comes as Abbott has yet to clarify how long the state intends to block its funding for the devices. Some local officials have suggested they are holding out hope that Abbott will reinstate funding for the politically toxic cameras after the Nov. 3 election.

“We’re so close to that November election that I think it would be a little premature for us to pull the plug without seeing where this is going to go,” Johnson County Commissioner Rick Bailey said during a Sept. 14 meeting where officials discussed the Flock extension.

In an interview with the Tribune, Bailey called the move “very political.”

“The only reason we’re seeing a pause in any of this is because of the fear of making the voters upset,” he said.

Abbott’s office did not answer questions about Flock’s response to his funding freeze. The lack of guidance from the governor’s office to agencies about whether the state funding block will have an end date has complicated decisions among local officials on whether to commit to further contracts with Flock.

Abbott halted state funding from being used for the AI-powered cameras in late August after The Texas Tribune reached out to his office for comment about an investigation detailing how a small state agency had devoted at least $30 million toward more than 3,200 cameras across Texas.

The funding freeze has caused hundreds of Flock cameras to be shuttered as cities and counties who previously relied on state money were forced to shut down some or all of their devices. Abbott also directed the Texas Department of Transportation to pause installation of new license plate readers along state roads and highways, although cameras already up can stay in place.

Flock Safety, which is based in Atlanta, did not respond to questions last week or Thursday about whether their 90-day extensions were being provided statewide or on a case-by-case basis.

The 90-day reprieve will help Dallas reinstate almost half of its arsenal of Flock cameras, which city police said in early September would be unplugged without grant funding from the state. Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley met with Dallas Police Wednesday night, after which the department publicly announced the deal which will keep the grant-funded cameras operating. A Dallas Police spokesperson said they did not have any more information currently about their plans for the cameras after the end of the three months.

In local meetings, officials spoke candidly about their expectation that Abbott’s funding block may be politically motivated.

Bailey, the Johnson County commissioner who said he supported use of the cameras, likened the freeze to Abbott’s restrictions this summer on data centers, which are also increasingly unpopular among Texas voters.

In Addison, City Councilmember Marlin Willesen expressed confidence that funding for the cameras would return from the state.

“Ideally we’ll get state funding, and I think the state is going to fund it, the question to me is not if, it’s when,” Willesen said during the city’s Sept. 22 meeting.

The 90-day pause from Flock is intended to give departments “time to identify new funding sources,” according to a presentation to Addison city council by city police chief Chris Freis. During that time, the cities will not be required to make any payments but will maintain full access to their Flock cameras.

Freis said at the council meeting that Addison Police met with Flock on Sept. 10 and was made aware of the 90-day pause then, and understood it to be a way to wait for further state guidance on camera funding.

“Flock is very much seemingly taking the advice of, sit and wait and see what shakes out at the state level and then go from there,” Freis said.

In Addison, New Braunfels and Johnson County, local officials said Flock also told them that if funding did not return after the 90 day payment hold ended, they could exit their Flock contracts for the affected cameras with no penalties.

All four of the departments receiving the 90 day extension used reimbursement grants from the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority, which is overseen by a board largely appointed by Abbott, for their Flock cameras.

The freeze has caused several cities across the state not only to lose out on money intended for upcoming payments, but thousands more for contracts they already paid, expecting to be made full again.

“We’ve got a half a million dollars of local taxpayer money already encumbered and paid, and (we’re) waiting for that reimbursement that the governor promised through the grant program,” Bailey said in an interview.

Other cities have already stripped their roads of the cameras after having state funding pulled. In El Paso, city council members voted to tear down their 150 cameras, all funded through the vehicle authority. Thirteen other cities and counties have shuttered their cameras since Abbott’s funding block.

State-funded cameras include more than 900 devices operated by the Department of Public Safety, whose data was accessed once every four seconds by more than 3,000 police agencies nationwide in June. DPS did not respond to an immediate request for comment on whether it received the 90-day financial pause as well.

DPS has said it will keep its existing cameras, but has declined to answer questions about how long they will stay on and how it will continue paying for them. A $15 million contract with the vehicle authority was paying for almost all of the more than 900 Flock cameras they operate, and the agency intended to install hundreds more before the funding freeze.

Flock cameras, which scan passing cars and store their information including their make, model, dents and bumper stickers, have been praised by law enforcement agencies across Texas as an incredible tool to stop and reduce crime. But an anti-surveillance backlash over the cameras has reached a fever pitch in recent months as privacy advocates fear the devices are ripe for individual and institutional abuse.

Distrust in the cameras and their lack of regulation has been felt across both political parties, but in Texas particularly harnessed by Rep. Gina Hinojosa, Abbott’s Democratic opponent in the gubernatorial election. Through ads and in interviews, Hinojosa has pinned the proliferation of Flock cameras on Abbott, pointing to the state funding and DPS’ use of the cameras as key examples of his influence.

“It’s the governor’s agencies that answer to him, who are sending out this money and paying for these Flock cameras across the state,” Hinojosa said in a September interview with the Tribune prior to Flock’s extensions.

Several state lawmakers, Democratic and Republican alike, have said they intend to bring bills that would restrict or outright ban the cameras from being used in the state. Law enforcement leaders have underscored that loss of the cameras would hinder their ability to tackle crime, but also supported regulation on the devices.

Bailey said that spending on Flock cameras was as good an investment as “boots on the ground” for police — although even with the 90 day extension, navigating funding without the state’s help could hurt how many of the devices his county uses.

“Anything that helps assist us with law enforcement and not have to go to the taxpayers to increase property taxes to hire more individuals is good for Texas,” he said.

__

This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.