Overview
- The Dallas Police Department took 321 state‑funded Flock license‑plate readers offline but left roughly 300–360 locally funded readers still operating.
- A Texas City audit of about 11,900 searches found 58 uses that were not for law enforcement, leading to suspensions and a sergeant’s demotion while prosecutors declined criminal charges.
- Dallas keeps plate data for 365 days, reported 1,917 authorized users, and said it conducts weekly audits and requires case numbers for searches.
- Flock has announced mandatory 'Audit Assistance', account suspensions for abnormal activity, and shorter default retention for new clients, but records do not show those protections are fully implemented at the local level.
- Policy and budget pressure from Governor Greg Abbott’s statewide funding freeze has driven municipal rollbacks and left cities weighing the high cost of restoring cameras and tighter rules on data sharing.