Council to look into Flock camera privacy issues
The short version: El Paso police quietly dropped Flock cameras, but KTSM 9 News reports the City Council is finally asking the privacy questions that should've come before the cameras ever went up.
Our Take
Credit to KTSM 9 News for digging into a story that too many cities bury: El Paso Police apparently stopped using Flock Safety's ALPR network, yet the privacy concerns didn't stop with the cameras. That's the pattern we see everywhere — departments quietly flip the switch, hoping nobody notices the gap between 'we're not using it anymore' and 'the data, contracts, and surveillance infrastructure are still sitting there.'
A council deciding to 'look into' privacy issues after the fact is better than nothing, but it's backwards. The right time to interrogate retention policies, data-sharing agreements, and whether local cops are feeding plate scans into federal databases is before a single camera goes up, not after residents start asking questions. El Paso's halt should be the floor for oversight, not the ceiling — real accountability means public hearings, audit logs, and binding limits on how this data can be used, not just a pause that can be reversed the next time a council changes its mind.
If you live in or near El Paso, don't assume the cameras are gone for good. Check our map to see what's actually been documented in your area, and use our take-action resources to push your council for real transparency before the next contract gets signed.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of KTSM 9 NEWS, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.