Gov. Abbott Quietly Spent $30 Million Expanding Flock's Surveillance Network Across Texas

In 2023, the Texas Legislature unanimously raised auto insurance premiums by $1 to combat a spike in catalytic converter theft. Three years later, that fee has quietly funded thousands of AI-powered Flock surveillance cameras across the state. 

A Texas Tribune analysis found that the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority — a little-known state agency led by a board mostly appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott — has directed at least $30 million from the fee toward expanding Flock Safety's license plate reader network, placing cameras from El Paso to the Louisiana border.

The agency has awarded at least 95 grants helping law enforcement agencies buy and maintain around 2,000 Flock cameras. A separate $15.9 million contract with the Texas Department of Public Safety is adding nearly 1,200 more, with another $3 million approved in August to install 583 cameras along Texas tollways.

After the Tribune contacted Abbott's office for comment, the governor announced Friday that he was pausing all state funding for local Flock camera grants. "To the extent any funding comes from Texas agencies, those agencies are clarifying that those funds cannot be used for Flock cameras," spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris said.

The $1 fee has raised an estimated $81 million overall, with $50.8 million distributed across 234 grants covering officers, crime analysts, attorneys, drones, and surveillance equipment. Camera grants ranged from $7,000 for two cameras in Bellmead to nearly $1.7 million for 201 cameras in Dallas. Some cities — including Laredo (165 cameras) and El Paso (150) — had their networks entirely covered by the grants.

The Tribune pieced together its findings by reviewing the authority's meeting records and public documents from 101 city councils and county commissions. The true number of grant-funded cameras is likely higher, as 124 grants lack clear public documentation.

What the cameras do

Flock cameras, the nation's most widely used license plate readers, use AI to build a "vehicle fingerprint" — recording each vehicle's plate, make, model, color, and distinguishing features like dents or bumper stickers. That data is stored in a searchable national database accessible to law enforcement agencies across the country without a search warrant.

Anti-surveillance group DeFlock estimates Texas has roughly 13,000 Flock cameras — nearly double the 7,500 in the state in late 2023. If accurate, the insurance fee has funded about one in four of them. Texas is estimated to have the second-largest Flock network in the nation, behind California. Nationwide, about 7,000 agencies use 120,000 Flock cameras and related products.

Lawmakers say cameras weren't what they voted for

The 2023 legislation — named after Harris County Deputy Darren Almendarez, who was killed interrupting catalytic converter thieves — made no mention of license plate readers.

State Sen. Carol Alvarado, the bill's author, said she was surprised to learn the fee was funding AI surveillance. "I did not have that in mind when we passed the bill," said Alvarado, D-Houston. "When I think of combating crime, I'm thinking more boots on the ground."

Rep. Brian Harrison, who voted for the bill, was more pointed: "In a million years, I never could have contemplated that this would be used to fund what is effectively warrantless surveillance. I sure as hell wouldn't have voted for it if I knew some bureaucrat was going to redirect the money to Flock cameras."

Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, said the cameras' data collection raises constitutional concerns: "The sheer volume of information captured is not something that is entertained, in my view, by the Fourth Amendment." Both Harrison and Little say they plan to file bills next session to ban the devices. 

A surveillance tool that's spread beyond its original purpose

Law enforcement officials say the cameras have transformed investigations far beyond catalytic converter theft. Dallas police used a grant to triple their camera network from 100 to 300, helping break up a million-dollar tire theft ring and — working with Homeland Security — track a cocaine manufacturing suspect using his camera-recorded movements to build a "pattern of life assessment."

In Cibolo, a city of 36,000 north of San Antonio, a grant grew the local Flock network from 11 to 52 cameras. Temple Police says 84% of their cameras are state-funded. "We would not have anywhere near the amount of cameras that we do without [vehicle authority] funds," said crime analyst Mike Treehern.

The authority's chair, Miguel Rodriguez — also the Laredo Police Chief — said the cameras are essential for combating transnational criminal organizations and expressed hope in 2023 of using the fee to "cover the entire state." He also noted that state-funded DPS cameras can be placed in communities that have rejected Flock, since state right-of-way is beyond local control. "There's nothing that they can tell us," Rodriguez said.

Growing backlash

Nearly 100 municipalities nationwide have ended their Flock contracts, including Bandera and Hood County in Texas. In Austin, the city canceled its contract amid public pressure.

Critics argue the cameras represent invasive surveillance with inadequate oversight.

Kenneth Feagins of DFW DeFlock points to documented misuse: officers in Lufkin, Baytown, Harris County, Fort Bend County, Temple, and Pasadena have been arrested, disciplined, or investigated for misusing Flock data — including to stalk former partners and co-workers. A Lufkin officer was indicted August 24 on 100 counts of misusing official information.

"There's a lot of malicious things that can be done with this data, and those things are no longer hypothetical," Feagins said.

Hannah Foust, who founded DeFlock Carrollton after a camera went up outside her family's polling place and recreation center, said transparency needs to come before any policy solutions. "Before we can have a true and honest conversation about what legislation might look like, we need to start on a level playing field of understanding — what is the system, what is it capable of?"