There were 2,457 pages and most are repeat emails. Still reading through plenty more #flockcameras

Our Take

Credit where it's due: Rilwan Balogun is doing the unglamorous, essential work that most people skip past — actually filing public records requests with every agency running Flock cameras across the Houston area and then sitting down to read thousands of pages of government correspondence. Most of it is repetitive boilerplate, sure, but that's the nature of FOIA work. The surveillance state doesn't announce itself in press releases; it shows up buried in page 1,847 of an email chain nobody expected anyone to actually read.

This is exactly the kind of grassroots accountability that keeps Flock Safety and the agencies that contract with them honest. Every ALPR deployment, every data-sharing agreement, every quiet policy change lives in records like these. When a local creator takes the time to request, receive, and actually parse thousands of pages, they're doing the job that should be routine for local journalism and civic oversight but rarely is anymore. It's slow, it's boring, and it matters.

If you want to see how dense the Flock network has gotten in your own area, check our camera map — and if you're inspired to file your own records requests, our take action page has resources to help you get started.