Tribune News Service — Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has called on Commissioners Court to schedule a special meeting to discuss thousands of license plate-reading cameras and the scope of their controversial surveillance in public spaces.
Hidalgo took to Substack on Saturday to scrutinize Harris County's contract with Flock Safety — the company that manufactures and operates the license plate-reading cameras that have sparked a nationwide debate over privacy and security. Alleged abuse of the technology within law enforcement agencies has triggered investigations in Harris and Fort Bend counties, Baytown and Pasadena, and numerous cameras have been torn down and vandalized.
Hidalgo said Harris County is home to thousands of license plate-reading cameras but lacks oversight and data privacy regulations. She said the county "must not continue with the programs" until its contract with Flock Safety contains proper oversight standards, but she did not elaborate on how a pause on the technology would work.
She outlined several key topics the special meeting should address, including data access, software, camera locations, privacy, oversight and contracts with the county and other jurisdictions. The meeting should be open to the public and include residents, companies, law enforcement and elected county-level leaders, Hidalgo added.
"The information the community is requesting is appropriate," Hidalgo wrote in her Substack. "For example, we should know for example what kind of Flock camera information becomes accessible to the public, and which agencies have access to the data."
Commissioners Rodney Ellis, Adrian Garcia, Tom Ramsey and Lesley Briones could not immediately be reached for comment.
Harris County's Commissioners Court renewed its contract with Flock Safety for another year in May — a move that drew criticism from Hidalgo and dozens of residents at the time. The court voted to approve the contract during a procedural meeting that typically happens with no discussion.
"The members who forced the item through owe the public answers to these questions," she wrote.
She said the oversight discussion must include the Harris County Sheriff's Office, which administers dozens of the cameras in the county.
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Hidalgo Wants Harris County to Re-Evaluate Flock Cameras
What to Know:
- Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo wants a public meeting to examine the county’s use of thousands of Flock Safety license plate-reading cameras.
- Hidalgo is calling for clearer rules around data access, privacy, camera locations and oversight before the programs continue.
- The Commissioners Court renewed the Flock Safety contract in May as investigations into alleged misuse of the technology continue in Harris County and nearby jurisdictions.
(Jon Shapley/The Texas Tribune)
