Taylor is tearing down the eight automated license plate readers that have watched over Highway 79 and Highway 95 since 2023, after city officials decided the cameras weren't pulling their weight. The City of Taylor announced Monday that it's canceling its contract with Flock Safety, the company behind the devices, and says the cameras have already been switched off and will be physically removed within days.
The decision came down to simple math, according to the city: the Taylor Police Department found that the readers were used far less frequently than anticipated and had not proven useful in solving crimes, per the city's press release cited by KXAN Austin. Taylor also said it had lost confidence in Flock Safety's data security and protection measures, a concern that has echoed across Texas in recent months as cities scrutinize how the company handles the license plate data it collects.
Police Chief Joseph Chacon laid out the reasoning plainly, saying Taylor did not believe continuing the Flock agreement was worthwhile, citing the city's lost confidence in the company, the fact that other departments have been discontinuing their own contracts, and a lack of clear community benefit. Still, Chacon left the door open for a reversal down the road. “We may revisit the use of Automated License Plate Readers in the future should data security concerns be addressed,” he said, according to taylorpress.net.
No Other Cameras Left Behind
The eight cameras being removed were the only automated license plate readers Taylor had in operation, the city confirmed. With the contract terminated, Taylor will have no automatic license plate readers remaining once removal crews finish their work in the coming days.
Taylor's move fits a pattern spreading well beyond one Williamson County city. Nearby, Hutto's City Council unanimously voted on Sept. 17 to remove 10 Flock cameras from its police department, after Police Chief Jeff Yarbrough deactivated them in August while he awaited more information about possible system vulnerabilities, per the same taylorpress.net report. The Texas Tribune has also reported that Guadalupe County and, more recently, Hood County have formally ended their Flock contracts entirely.
A Statewide Reckoning Over Camera Data
The backlash extends across the state. According to a Houston Chronicle tracker, two dozen Texas cities and counties had taken steps to remove automated license plate readers or end Flock contracts as of late September. Gov. Greg Abbott added pressure of his own, ordering state agencies in August to pause spending on Flock cameras, the Chronicle reported.
Closer to Taylor, KXAN counted 10 Central Texas cities that had pulled back from Flock as of Sept. 18, including Austin, Bastrop, Hutto, Lago Vista, Leander, Liberty Hill, Manor, Pflugerville, San Marcos and Sunset Valley. The outlet also noted that Elgin and Kyle had paused their Flock programs around the same time. Advocacy groups tracking camera locations statewide estimate Texas still has more than 13,000 Flock cameras in use, according to the Texas Tribune, even as individual cities retreat.
That retreat hasn't been universal, though. The Texas Tribune has reported that governments have increasingly made it harder to access public information about where Flock cameras are located and how they're used, even as scrutiny intensifies. And some cities are doubling down rather than backing out — the Chronicle reported that College Station voted 4-2 to renew two Flock agreements worth up to $299,061.80 combined, while Carrollton renewed its own deal covering 82 cameras for three years at an annual cost of up to $398,258.34.
Not Just a Texas Problem
The scrutiny isn't confined to Texas. In Virginia, Henrico County crews have removed more than 120 Flock license plate reader cameras after the company missed a removal deadline, according to WTVR. Henrico had notified Flock on Oct. 7 that its contract would terminate effective Oct. 14 and required the company to stop collecting data by that date, the station reported — a timeline that suggests even formal contract endings don't always mean an immediate, clean exit from the cameras themselves.
For now, Taylor's eight readers are dark, and the city says removal crews will have them down within days. Whether the cameras return hinges on whether Flock Safety can satisfy the data-security concerns that, according to Chief Chacon, helped drive Taylor away in the first place.
