Hundreds of Flock cameras going dark in Dallas
The short version: CBS Texas reports Dallas will lose state funding for 321 of its 684 Flock ALPRs over privacy and misuse concerns — a rare funding-driven rollback worth watching.
Our Take
CBS Texas is reporting something we don't see often: money talking sense into a surveillance program. Nearly half of Dallas PD's 684 Flock cameras are set to go dark because state funding is drying up, reportedly tied to concerns about privacy and misuse. Credit to the CBS Texas team for digging into the numbers, because most Flock stories are about expansion, not contraction.
Don't mistake this for Dallas having a change of heart. Funding fights are often the only lever that actually shrinks these networks, since local police departments rarely volunteer to give up a surveillance tool once it's installed. If misuse is part of the reason lawmakers pulled back, that should be a red flag for every other city still writing Flock a blank check and trusting audit logs nobody outside the department ever reviews.
Half a network going dark still leaves hundreds of cameras logging Dallas drivers' movements. If you want to see what's still running near you, check our camera map, and if you'd rather push your own city council toward transparency instead of waiting on state budget cuts, our take-action page has the tools to start that fight.
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.