Kyle voters could decide future of Flock cameras
The short version: Kyle's city council just overruled its own residents' outrage, voting 6-1 to keep 47 Flock cameras alive at $420,000 a year — so now it may fall to voters to end the contract.
Our Take
Credit to FOX 7 Austin for covering this one, because it's a pattern we see over and over: a council votes to bring in Flock cameras with little public input, residents eventually push back hard enough to force a termination vote, and then the council finds a reason to keep the contract alive anyway. A 6-1 vote isn't a close call — it's a council telling constituents that $420,000 a year and 47 ALPRs scattered across Kyle is a done deal, regardless of how the debate actually goes.
What makes this worth watching is the next step: if this really does end up in front of Kyle voters, it becomes one of the clearer referendums yet on whether a community actually wants a private company logging every vehicle that passes through town, indefinitely, with data-sharing agreements most residents never see. That's a real opportunity. Most cities never get the chance to vote this directly on mass surveillance infrastructure — they just get stuck paying for it.
If you're in Kyle or anywhere near it, check our camera map to see exactly what's already been installed near you, and head to our take-action page for ways to push back before your own council quietly renews a contract nobody asked for.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of FOX 7 Austin, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.