Bastrop Council Votes To End Flock Camera Contract
The short version: Bastrop, Texas canceled its Flock Safety contract days after taping over the cameras — proof that sustained local pressure can actually kill ALPR programs.
Our Take
Credit to Texas Scorecard for tracking this one through to the end. Bastrop didn't just quietly let a contract lapse — council members first ordered the cameras covered, then came back and voted to terminate the deal with Flock Safety outright. That's a two-step repudiation, and it's the kind of outcome every community fighting this fight should study.
What makes Bastrop notable is the sequence. Covering the cameras was a visible, almost symbolic move that bought time for the political process to catch up. Ending the contract was the substantive part. Too many cities sign these agreements on the promise of solving a handful of crimes and never revisit whether the tradeoff — a permanent, searchable record of everyone's movements — was ever worth it. Bastrop revisited it, and said no.
This matters because Flock's business model depends on inertia: once a city has cameras installed and officers get used to pulling data, contracts tend to auto-renew without a second look. Bastrop broke that cycle. If you want to see whether your own city has handed Flock the keys to a local surveillance network, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back, our take-action page has the tools to start.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Texas Scorecard, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.