Manvel city council votes to end Flock camera use

Our Take

Add Manvel to the growing list of towns that looked at Flock Safety's pitch, lived with the cameras for a while, and decided the trade-off wasn't worth it. A unanimous council vote isn't a split decision or a budget technicality — it's a signal that elected officials across the political spectrum are increasingly willing to say no to a surveillance system that was sold as a crime-fighting silver bullet but functions as a permanent, searchable record of where everyone drives, parks, and visits.

Credit to ABC13 Houston for covering the vote, because these local council meetings are exactly where this fight is actually won or lost. Flock's business model depends on these decisions happening quietly, one renewal contract at a time, far from public scrutiny. When a city council votes in public, on the record, to end the program, it hands every other community a usable precedent and a reminder that these contracts aren't permanent just because a vendor says so.

If you live near Manvel or anywhere else in Texas, check our camera map to see what's still running nearby, and head to our take-action page for tools to push your own council toward the same kind of vote.