Texas to cut off state funding for Flock cameras, Abbott office says - Dallas News

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office said Friday the state will cut off funding for Flock Safety license plate reader cameras, a move that could pull financial support from police departments across Texas, including those in Lubbock.

The decision reverses course on a technology that state grants helped spread quickly through Texas law enforcement. Flock Safety, one of the main vendors selling these automated readers, has faced growing scrutiny over allegations of police misuse and concerns that the network lets authorities track drivers with little public oversight. Abbott's office cited a Lufkin police officer's indictment as part of the rationale for pulling funding.

Cities and counties elsewhere in Texas have already started walking away. Wylie and Hood County in North Texas canceled or declined to renew their Flock contracts before the state made its announcement.

For people in Lubbock, the practical question is what happens to any cameras already operating locally if the state money dries up. Cities that built their networks on state grants will have to decide whether to keep paying out of their own budgets, renegotiate, or shut the systems down entirely.

Now the same funding that accelerated that rollout is being used to pump the brakes.