Texas often sets the standard for red-state policies—from the Second Amendment to protecting unborn babies to economic freedom. Now, amid public backlash to Flock cameras, state legislators are leading calls for accountability.
Texas is estimated to have at least 13,000 Flock cameras, along with roughly 1,000 other similar devices, according to DeFlock, an anti-surveillance group that tracks the devices and publishes their locations.
Flock cameras are automated license plate readers that take pictures of vehicles, tracking their time and location. This is an incredibly useful tool for police to investigate vehicles connected to crimes, but public concern has been growing about widespread surveillance and privacy violations.
In August, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott banned state funds from being used for Flock cameras. And now, state legislators, including state Rep. Brian Harrison, are demanding accountability.
“We take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States when we’re sworn in,” Harrison told the Daily Signal. “I don’t know how it’s the case that so many supposedly Republicans in the Texas government seem to think that the Fourth Amendment was just a mere suggestion.”
Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, told the Daily Signal there is a crackdown on Flock cameras across Texas, like in Lufkin, where a police officer was indicted on 100 felony charges for misuse of Flock information.
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“Almost all Flock cameras in Texas are used by cities, and those cities are increasingly canceling their contracts with Flock,” Mahaleris said. “To the extent that cities get any funding for those cameras, most of it comes from the federal government. To the extent any funding comes from Texas agencies, those agencies are clarifying that those funds cannot be used for Flock cameras.”
Harrison argues that the cameras violate the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
“These things are facially violative of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections, because there’s no warrant required anywhere in the process,” Harrison told the Daily Signal. “It’s not even speculation. We know, as a matter of admitted fact, that abuse is rampant and widespread with these cameras.”
Harrison said his original goal was to establish what he saw as a basic safeguard: requiring a warrant before Flock cameras could be used. But as concerns over the technology have grown, he now believes lawmakers should consider whether to eliminate the cameras entirely and whether the data can be protected constitutionally.
“Texans are being taxed out of their homes and being forced to fund, by the supposedly Republican government, their own unconstitutional warrantless surveillance,” he said. “What I would like to see is every Republican start upholding the oath they voluntarily took to the U.S. Constitution because the U.S. Constitution includes the Fourth Amendment.”
According to its website, Flock supported more than 1 million criminal investigations and incidents in 2025. Many law enforcement agencies tout Flock cameras because it aids in solving crimes in a way no other technology has before.
Harrison doesn’t argue that Flock cameras aren’t solving crime, but he says it comes at a cost that Texans aren’t willing to pay.
“Why hasn’t every Republican gone on record in Texas and say we are going to do everything we can to make sure that our citizens aren’t being taxed out of their homes and forced to fund unconstitutional, warrantless surveillance?” he said.
“I don’t even view this as what should be a hard issue for supposedly limited-government, pro-Constitution elected Republicans here in Texas. Every one of them should be speaking out against this, especially in light of all the abuses that we now know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, have occurred.”
As Texas’ founding father Sam Houston said, “Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may.”
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