League City voters sent a message to its government leaders on Tuesday: Disable all license plate readers immediately.
Fifty-four percent of 46,400 voters cast ballots to end Flock cameras, making League City the first in the greater Houston area to take action on the controversial technology. Critics say the license plate readers are mass surveillance tools that have been abused by officers who stalk their ex-partners and share information with ICE.
Public safety advocates, however, say that guardrails can be put into place to limit who can access the technology and ensure that it’s being used properly to aid in solving crimes.
Tuesday’s ballot measure was a resolution and technically non-binding, but Mayor Nick Long has said that if the voters reject the technology, the cameras would be disabled within 72 hours of the votes being certified.
“I just wanted to show this as a commitment that we will get these cameras down within 72 hours, whether we bag them or whether we cut them all down,” the mayor said in October.
Flock cameras have drawn the ire of residents in Harris County and surrounding jurisdictions. Harris County Commissioners Court agreed last month to empanel a task force to study the matter and propose accountability measures. Residents in the City of Conroe are circulating a petition to place the item on a future ballot.
Many of the license plate readers within Harris County have been purchased by neighborhood associations and municipal utility districts, so while authorized city and county officers can access the data, the government doesn’t have the authority to remove the ones they didn’t pay for.
League City, which is in Galveston County, operates 55 Flock cameras on public roadways.
League City’s action comes weeks after Flock Safety Inc., the company that manufactures most of the license plate readers used in Texas, reported on October 17 that deputies in nearby Brazoria County tracked and apprehended two murder suspects from Marksville, Louisiana, with the help of Flock technology.
The Brazoria County police received a Flock alert showing the suspects’ vehicle was in Pearland. When they questioned the suspects, they found a handgun in the vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office.
“This case is another example of how Flock ALPR technology helps law enforcement quickly develop leads and help solve crimes,” said Flock media relations specialist Andrew Smith in an email to the Houston Press.
