\u201cThere\u2019s a fine line between privacy and safety, a fine balance that you have to walk,\u201d Krause said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flock Safety is based in Atlanta and nearly 10 years old but has faced increased scrutiny over the past year as local law enforcement and homeowners associations across the country increasingly use them in the name of making neighborhoods safer. The cameras take a photo of every passing vehicle, capturing its license plate, make, model and color.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The governor\u2019s announcement last week came as The Texas Tribune reported<\/a> that a state agency spent at least $30 million helping law enforcement install at least 3,200 Flock cameras across the state. A 2023 law adding $1 to Texas car insurance policies to combat catalytic converter theft generated the money used to pay for the cameras, the Tribune reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n Waybourn did not specify how Tarrant County paid for its six Flock cameras but said they\u2019ve been in use for five or six years. He told commissioners the cameras played a \u201cserious part\u201d in last year\u2019s 14% reduction in crime, adding that he would expect crime to increase if his department stopped using them.\u00a0<\/p>\n He used the 1996 abduction and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington \u2014 a case that inspired the Amber Alert system now used when children are abducted \u2014 as an example of how Flock could potentially help law enforcement. The chances of finding Hagerman \u201cwould have gone up tremendously,\u201d had police used Flock cameras, said Waybourn, who was police chief in neighboring Dalworthington Gardens at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor the next baby that\u2019s kidnapped like that, I sure ain\u2019t one to want to stand at the door and say \u2018No ma\u2019am, mama, we turned off our Flock cameras.\u2019 I wouldn\u2019t want to do that,\u201d Waybourn said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The sheriff said he recognizes community concerns around privacy, opening his presentation by sharing recent federal court decisions ruling that individuals are not legally entitled to privacy when in public. He cited a federal appeals court upholding<\/a> in March a Mississippi court\u2019s ruling that local police did not violate the Fourth Amendment when they used a license plate reader to identify a vehicle associated with someone on a warrant for aggravated assault.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the law we stand on as far as operating Flock,\u201d Waybourn said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The sheriff\u2019s office owns the data collected by its Flock cameras and may only use it for law enforcement purposes but can also share it with other agencies, Waybourn said. That data is deleted every 30 days unless marked for use as evidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare and Commissioner Alisa Simmons, opponents on the November ballot<\/a>, asked questions about privacy for residents and how to prevent law enforcement or Flock from misusing data collected by the cameras.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSharing people\u2019s data is frightening. I 100% see the legitimate law enforcement use for it,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cBut we have to ask some serious questions about privacy, transparency, oversight and how that information is used.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n O\u2019Hare cited recent examples across the country of law enforcement officers using Flock data to stalk<\/a> ex-partners and co-workers, asking how such behavior is prevented or caught.\u00a0<\/p>\n Waybourn said best practices for managing the data include manual audits, as well as artificial intelligence-driven audits, to identify \u201cunusual activity\u201d and alert the chain of command. All activity is traceable to a specific user.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the sheriff\u2019s office, 130 staffers have access to the Flock camera data, Waybourn said. Audits have not detected unusual or prohibited activity within the department\u2019s use, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Flock also has access to the data its cameras collect but deletes that data every seven days, said Ian Leslie, the agency\u2019s regional public affairs manager who works with local and state elected officials on legislation and regulations over the software.<\/p>\n Krause asked Waybourn to explain how the use of Flock cameras is different from the red light cameras Texas declared unconstitutional<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe red light cameras (were) there to get a civil violation of somebody running a red light. That was their sole purpose,\u201d Waybourn replied. \u201cSole purpose of Flock is not that at all, it\u2019s completely different. It\u2019s tracking bad guys, who we think are bad guys.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Leslie, the Flock representative, told commissioners the cameras only collect license plate information, not personal identifiable information. Law enforcement already has access to that type of information, Waybourn said, promising that misuse hasn\u2019t and won\u2019t be tolerated.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Police Department has used Flock cameras since 2020, and other law enforcement agencies in the county may also have contracts with the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n Flock skirted city regulations when it installed dozens of its cameras in public rights-of-way across Fort Worth without required permitting, mostly at the request of neighborhood associations that said they wanted to crack down on crime around their homes, according to a 2024 Fort Worth Report investigation<\/a>. City officials said at the time that negotiations were ongoing to establish a right-of-way use agreement with the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n Krause said he expects lawmakers to discuss statewide regulations when the Texas Legislature convenes in January, but in the meantime, he\u2019s interested in adopting a policy to guide county best practices. Waybourn said he\u2019s not against guardrails and would be \u201cexcited for leading the way for the country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0902-MC-FlockCamera-03-1024x683.jpg\")
A Flock camera sits near the corner of New York Avenue and East Pioneer Parkway on Sept. 1, 2026, in Arlington. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n