On Tuesday, San Marcos City Council members decided to not renew the contract with Flock Safety for license plate reader cameras after concerns from the community.
SAN MARCOS, Texas — The city of San Marcos is deciding to cut all ties with tech company Flock Safety for their license plate reader cameras.
On Tuesday, city council members decided not to renew the city’s contract with the company after the community expressed concerns about the cameras.
“We’ve seen that it can be helpful in solving crimes, or at least pointing some fingers at who we need to talk to about some crimes, but I don’t want to stay with Flock,” San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson said.
Concerns with Flock cameras
Several advocacy groups have been trying to stop the city from getting more Flock cameras, in part due to fear of data breaches with the company, but also concerns about privacy and tracking citizens. This summer, the San Marcos City Council decided not to expand their Flock fleet.
“We are just so happy with the decision they made, I think it’s the responsible one, and I think we should just revisit that whole question of like, what do we want to invest in?” said Catina Voellinger, the executive director of Ground Game Texas. “Do we want to invest in real safety, or do we want to invest in safety?”
Voellinger said the city dollars spent on Flock cameras would have been better off being used to address the root causes of crimes, like mental health assistance, housing, job support and more.
Another concern also brought up by city council members was the legal repercussions the city could face for continuing to work with Flock. All across the country, several lawsuits have been filed against Flock just this year.
“They’re suing and they’re suing our cities,” said Amanda Rodriguez, San Marcos City Council Member Place 6. “So to continue this contract with this company without understanding the legal risks that it poses, for me is not proactive leadership, it’s just not responsible.”
San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge said the cameras have helped the department, but it’s just one part of their work.
“Flock is a very instrumental tool, but to Chief Anderson’s point, there is still a ton of investigation that has to go in each of these crimes,” Standridge said.
Even though the city is deciding to do away with the Flock license plate reader cameras, Mayor Hughson said she would like them to look into similar companies they may be able to work with for the cameras.
Other areas cutting ties with Flock
This all comes as Hays County Commissioners just voted to end all their contracts with Flock back in October.
The city of Austin also got rid of all their license plate readers this past summer. They had 50 cameras installed through contracts with both Flock Safety and Axon.