Gov. Greg Abbott Orders Halt to New Flock Cameras on Texas Roads
The short version: KCWX 2 reports Gov. Abbott told TxDOT to stop installing new Flock ALPR cameras on Texas state roadways, a rare political check on the surveillance network's expansion.
Our Take
Credit to KCWX 2 Television for flagging this one: when a sitting governor orders a halt to new Flock installations, even a partial one, it's a sign that the backlash against blanket license plate tracking is reaching people who can actually slow it down. Texas has been one of Flock's biggest growth markets, with cameras creeping onto highways and local roads alike, so a pause on state-road installations is worth noting even if it's narrow in scope.
Read the fine print, though. This appears to be about TxDOT-controlled roadways, not a statewide ban on Flock. Cities, counties, sheriffs, and HOAs across Texas can still buy and deploy these cameras on their own roads, and the ones already up on state highways presumably keep running and feeding data into Flock's national network. A halt on new installs is a speed bump, not a stop sign, for a system built to expand quietly district by district.
Still, it shows that public pressure and political scrutiny can move the needle, and that's the point of documenting this stuff in the first place. If you want to see how many of these cameras are already watching Texas roads, check our map, and if you want to push your own city council or county commissioners to follow Austin's lead, our take-action page has the tools to do it.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of KCWX 2 Television, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.