El Paso orders decommissioned Flock cameras removed within 60 days, blocks new ALPR deals

Our Take

Score one for the accountability column. As KFOX14 reports, El Paso representatives didn't just let dead Flock cameras rot on the poles — they voted unanimously to have them physically removed within 60 days, and just as important, they slammed the brakes on any new ALPR deals while questions about oversight and effectiveness get sorted out. That's a rare instance of a city government treating "decommissioned" as an actual verb instead of a press release.

This matters because the usual pattern with surveillance tech is that hardware outlives the policy debate. Cameras get installed under a narrow pilot program, the pilot quietly becomes permanent, and nobody circles back to ask if the thing is still doing what it was sold to do. El Paso's council forcing a hard deadline and a pause on expansion flips that script, and it gives other city councils a template: don't just stop paying Flock, make them take the poles down and prove it.

We'll be watching whether El Paso's 60-day clock actually gets enforced or quietly slips, and whether "no new deals" holds once budget season pressure kicks in. In the meantime, check our camera map to see what's watching your own plates, and hit up our take-action page if you want to push your city council toward the same kind of vote El Paso just delivered.