Bastrop Covers Flock Cameras as Texas Cities Raise Privacy Concerns

Our Take

Credit to KCWX 2 Television for tracking a story that deserves more airtime: Bastrop covering up its Flock cameras after residents and officials started asking harder questions about who gets access to that license plate data, how long it's kept, and what it's actually buying in terms of safety. That a city would physically shroud the hardware mid-contract tells you the public pressure campaign is working, not just in Austin's orbit but in the smaller towns that often get these systems rubber-stamped with little debate.

This is the pattern we've seen play out across Texas and the country: a police department signs a Flock deal citing stolen cars or Amber Alerts, the cameras go up fast, and only afterward do council members and residents realize they just built a searchable database of everyone's movements with almost no guardrails on misuse, data sharing, or out-of-state access requests. Bastrop reconsidering is a reminder that these contracts are never permanent — public records requests, open meetings, and organized residents can force a second look even after the poles are in the ground.

If you're in Central Texas or anywhere else wondering whether your town already has these cameras watching your commute, check our camera map to see what's been documented near you, and if you want to push your own city council the way Bastrop residents apparently did, our take-action page has the tools to get started.