Princeton Texas says no to Flock Cameras
The short version: Princeton, Texas killed a six-camera Flock deal 5-1 after residents pushed back, proving local pressure can stop ALPR rollouts before they start.
Our Take
Score one for the residents who showed up and spoke up. CBS Texas reports that Princeton's City Council voted 5-1 to scrap plans for six Flock Safety license plate readers after a wave of privacy concerns from the public. That's not a council that got cold feet on its own — that's a community that organized, made noise, and won before the cameras ever went up.
This matters because most Flock deployments never get this kind of scrutiny. Cities typically approve these contracts in a single consent-agenda vote, with little debate about who gets access to the data, how long it's stored, or which agencies can query it. Princeton's council actually listened before signing away that infrastructure, and that's the exception, not the rule, across a state where Flock's footprint keeps growing.
If you want to see how thick that footprint already is, check our camera map for what's been documented near you. And if your town is quietly moving toward a Flock contract, don't wait for installation day — Princeton shows what's possible when people speak up early. Our take-action page has the tools to help you do exactly that.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of CBS TEXAS, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.