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TYLER \u2013 There\u2019s a growing push in East Texas to remove Flock cameras, and one group in Smith County launched a petition to end the use of these license plate readers, demanding action. The network of Flock cameras already spans thousands of communities and agencies across the country. De-Flock Tyler is concerned that with the creation of this mass surveillance network, citizens\u2019 personal privacy is quickly dissolving all under the pretense of \u201cpublic safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want this here; we are not okay with this,\u201d De-Flock Tyler founder Robin Wright said. \u201cThis is a violation of our privacy; this is a surveillance state. It\u2019s not okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Created by a third-party tech company called Flock Safety, these cameras scan passing vehicles, capturing license plates, the vehicle\u2019s make, model, and color, as well as timestamps, locations, and direction of travel.<\/p>\n
On Flock Safety\u2019s website, the company sites its cameras \u201ccapture still images of vehicles and their license plates, providing real-time alerts to law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wright said she\u2019s concerned this type of sensitive data isn\u2019t being protected properly and believes this level of surveillance is a blatant infringement on our privacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this system, they don\u2019t need a warrant on anybody,\u201d Wright said. \u201cIt actively tracks every single person that passes it, every single one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharing these concerns, she\u2019s collecting signatures on an online petition to show local and state leaders that she, along with more than 1,600 people, do not support the use of Flock cameras as a tool to keep their community safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no regulations on this technology because it wasn\u2019t here before,\u201d Wright said. \u201cThe fact is, it\u2019s here now, and we have to fight actively to make those regulations a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sergeant Clayton Taylor with the Smith County Sheriff\u2019s Office said they use data and information pulled from their Flock camera network everyday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been crucial to speeding up the investigations from the old way,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt\u2019s just another tool in our tool belt that we can use to do these investigations.\u201d <\/p>\n
Taylor said it\u2019s used in a wide array of investigations in everything from Silver Alerts to hit-and-runs and kidnappings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say it\u2019s assisted us with probably 30% of our investigations, including the property crimes, persons crimes, and human trafficking,\u201d Taylor said. <\/p>\n
Taylor explained that each officer has their own password and username, and everytime an officer logs into the system, the date and time are recorded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny system that we use here at the sheriff\u2019s office, there is oversight and any misuse of that will be investigated, and disciplinary actions up to termination could result,\u201d Taylor said. <\/p>\n
According to the crowdsourced map on deflock.org, nearly 100 active Flock cameras have been documented in Smith County, installed on both public and private property. Sergeant Taylor said each taxpayer-funded camera has been installed in a public area where citizens should have no expectation of privacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just like someone taking a picture of your car as you\u2019re driving by; that\u2019s not illegal,\u201d Taylor said. <\/p>\n
He encourages everyone to do their own research about this technology and reach out to him if they have questions or concerns that he could address.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not tracking people; we\u2019re looking for vehicles that may be used in a crime,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cWe\u2019re not here to violate anyone\u2019s civil liberties or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wright also encourages everyone to do their own research, adding that what they\u2019ll find are instances of surveillance abuse by law enforcement and wrongful accusations and detainments based on inaccuracies recorded in the Flock database.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has led to numerous, numerous, numerous wrongful arrests, either it\u2019s that the plate is one number or one letter off from the actual person with the warrant, and then people are getting pulled over at gunpoint,\u201d Wright said. <\/p>\n
In October of 2025, Denver\u2019s Nexstar affiliate, KDVR, reported about a woman wrongfully accused of stealing a package off someone\u2019s front doorstep after police tracked her car using Flock cameras. She had to use personal DoorDash footage and doorbell videos to prove her innocence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a huge violation of our privacy, and this is not something that can just continue to go on quietly because we are not okay with this,\u201d Wright said. <\/p>\n
Wright plans to bring this petition to the commissioner\u2019s court and other local leaders to urge them to reconsider their upcoming contract with Flock Safety.<\/p>\n
KETK reached out to the company Flock Safety, which was unable to schedule an interview time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TYLER \u2013 There\u2019s a growing push in East Texas to remove Flock cameras, and one group in Smith County launched a petition to end the use of these license plate readers, demanding action. The network of Flock cameras already spans thousands of communities and agencies across the country. De-Flock Tyler is concerned that with the … Continue reading Group calls for removal of Flock cameras<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1528023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1528022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-29 05:17:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1528022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1528024,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528022\/revisions\/1528024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1528023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1528022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1528022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1528022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}