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License-plate readers · Dallas County

Dallas County

Using license-plate readers · 6 agencies documented

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Dallas Police Department

Status
Removing or limiting cameras
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
363
684 cameras per a Sept. 8, 2026 DPD briefing, less 321 state-grant cameras canceled Sept. 15 = 363 (subtraction by Dallas Express); FOX 4 reported about 300 remained active.
Contract
Flock Safety: $5,738,415 three-year maximum · approved by Dallas City Council May 2025 · $3,922,914.61 general fund, $1,690,500 MVCPA grant, $125,000 federal grant. (Dallas Express, Sept. 2, 2026; Dallas Express, Sept. 3, 2026; GovTech (The Dallas Morning News), Dec. 1, 2025)
Data sharing
Per Dallas Express reporting on a DPD briefing: direct sharing cut from 1,508 agencies to 202 Texas agencies, federal sharing stopped.
  1. Sept. 1, 2026 DPD said it would cancel 321 state-grant-funded cameras on Sept. 15 to comply with the governor's order, keeping more than 300. (Dallas Express, Sept. 2, 2026; Axios Dallas, Sept. 2, 2026)
  2. Sept. 2, 2026 In a nonbinding straw vote, the council majority rejected Adam Bazaldua's amendment to cut $1.5 million in Flock funding; Bazaldua, Paula Blackmon and Jaime Resendez supported it. (Dallas Express, Sept. 3, 2026; GovTech (The Dallas Morning News), Sept. 3, 2026)
  3. Sept. 25, 2026 FOX 4 (via Dallas Express) reported 321 cameras offline. (Dallas Express, Sept. 27, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Retention conflict: DPD presentation says 365 days; posted ALPR general order (rev. March 10, 2023) says 30 days.
  • Straw vote date: Sept. 2 (Dallas Express) vs. a Wednesday Sept. 3 meeting (DMN/GovTech); Dallas Express (Sept. 7) also cites Aug. 26. Final budget adoption Sept. 16 outcome not confirmed.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Irving Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Flock Safety
  1. Oct. 5, 2026 Irving was reported to be charging $70,000 for Flock records that Carrollton provided free. (The Texas Tribune, Oct. 5, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Tribune credits Current Revolt for the figure; Irving program details not found.

Secondhand report; not yet confirmed with the agency.

Carrollton Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
67
67 cameras in operation; contract allows up to 82 (Dallas Express, Sept. 2026).
Contract
Flock Safety: $398,258 per year (about $1.19 million three-year maximum) · from Sept. 2026 · approved by Carrollton City Council Sept. 15, 2026 · Approved 6-1, Richard Fleming opposed; consolidates four Flock contracts; paid from police budget; no state funding since 2024. (Dallas Express, Sept. 16, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Carrollton spans Dallas, Denton and Collin counties; filed under Dallas.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Richardson Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
20
20 stationary Flock cameras at 14 major intersections, per Chief Gary Tittle at the Aug. 10, 2026 council briefing. He said at least 30 other plate-reader cameras in the city are privately or independently owned and not controlled by the city.
Contract
Flock Safety: · to Dec. 2027 · approved by Richardson City Council · Flock contract; Community Impact reports it is up for renewal at the end of 2027. The article does not give an approval date or amount. (Community Impact, Aug. 11, 2026)
  1. Aug. 10, 2026 Chief Gary Tittle briefed the City Council on Flock use. He said data is deleted after 30 days unless tied to an active investigation, RPD shares data with 146 law enforcement agencies (mostly North Texas), and the only federal agencies with access are the FBI and U.S. Postal Inspectors, plus the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. City Manager Don Magner said staff had received no complaints alleging misuse by RPD personnel. (Community Impact, Aug. 11, 2026)
  2. Aug. 10, 2026 Council member Dan Barrios said he could not support further growth of Flock in the city, citing concerns about the company rather than RPD. After the briefing, the city said it would publish the list of agencies receiving RPD data, post its audit policy and audit results, and get written confirmation from Flock that data is deleted as the contract requires. (Community Impact, Aug. 11, 2026; Richardson Today (City of Richardson), date not shown)
Conflicts and open questions
  • No response to the Aug. 2026 state funding freeze was reported; no source says Richardson's Flock contract used state grant money.
  • Sharing figures come from the chief's council presentation as reported; RPD's own published agency list was not located.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Mesquite Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Motorola Solutions, Vendor not named in source
Cameras
13
13 fixed cameras at three intersections (7 at Peachtree/Gross, 3 each at the northbound and southbound I-635 service roads), per the city's 2022 installation cost analysis. No current count was found.
Contract
Motorola Solutions: $133,375 one-time installation contract · from 2022 · approved by Mesquite City Council (consent agenda) April 4, 2022 · Sole-source contract with Trinity Innovative Solutions, LLC, an authorized Vigilant reseller, for fixed plate-reader installation (Bid No. 2022-076). The city's cost analysis lists funding from federal JAG grants ($77,286.07) and seizure funds ($56,088.93). (City of Mesquite (Legistar), April 4, 2022; City of Mesquite (Legistar attachment), date not shown; City of Mesquite (Legistar attachment), Jan. 4, 2022)
Contract
Vendor not named in source: $20,833 grant, Sept. 1, 2025 to Aug. 31, 2026 · from Sept. 1, 2025 · to Aug. 31, 2026 · approved by Mesquite City Council June 2, 2025 · Fiscal Year 2026 MVCPA auxiliary grant for leasing or buying ALPR investigations software, with a $4,167 city match; a separate $8,667 MVCPA award (plus $1,733 city match) covers an ALPR camera. If the city leases them with grant funds, it agreed to continue the lease for one more year after the grant period. The resolution does not name a vendor. (City of Mesquite (Legistar attachment), June 2, 2025)
  1. July 18, 2022 Council accepted a $20,000 FY2022 MVCPA grant for leasing or buying an ALPR system, with a $4,000 city contribution. (City of Mesquite (Legistar), July 18, 2022)
  2. April 20, 2026 Council authorized applying for a new MVCPA grant for ALPR software and a camera covering Sept. 1, 2026 to Aug. 31, 2027, with a city match not to exceed $25,000. (City of Mesquite (Legistar attachment), April 20, 2026)
  3. Oct. 19, 2026 A staff briefing on police license plate reader technology is on the City Council's Oct. 19, 2026 pre-meeting agenda (file created Sept. 14). (City of Mesquite (Legistar), Oct. 19, 2026; City of Mesquite (Legistar), Sept. 14, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • The program's FY2026 and planned FY2027 software and camera leases were tied to state MVCPA grants, the funding Gov. Abbott froze in Aug. 2026; no source found says how Mesquite responded. The Oct. 19 briefing may answer this.
  • Vendor of the MVCPA-funded software/camera is not named in city resolutions.

From agency records.

Grand Prairie Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Flock Safety, Motorola Solutions
Cameras
29
29 Flock license plate recognition cameras purchased under the June 2, 2020 ordinance; no later count found. A separate 2018 Vigilant camera purchase did not state a count in its title.
Contract
Flock Safety: $116,000 initial two-year term · from 2020 · approved by Grand Prairie City Council June 2, 2020 · Sole-source agreement for 29 cameras paid from the Red Light Safety Fund, with three optional one-year renewals at $58,000 per year, $290,000 total if all are exercised. (City of Grand Prairie (Legistar), June 2, 2020)
Contract
Motorola Solutions: $141,328 purchase · from 2018 · approved by Grand Prairie City Council (consent agenda) Dec. 11, 2018 · License plate recognition cameras from Vigilant Solutions through the H-GAC interlocal purchasing agreement. (City of Grand Prairie (Legistar), Dec. 11, 2018)
  1. Nov. 2022 Police Chief Daniel Scesney said auto-theft investigators reviewed images including from the city's Flock system to locate the suspect vehicle in the pursuit that led to Officer Brandon Tsai's death. (NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Nov. 18, 2022)
Conflicts and open questions
  • The Grand Prairie Legistar API returned no plate-reader items after 2020, so renewals after the optional terms (through about 2025) were not found. Current use and any response to the 2026 state funding freeze are unconfirmed.

From agency records.

Statewide

  1. 2023 The Legislature unanimously passed a $1 increase to the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority fee on auto insurance policies, aimed at catalytic converter theft. The Texas Tribune estimated it raised about $81 million and found at least $30 million of it went to Flock cameras (at least 3,200 cameras) through grants; sponsors Sen. Carol Alvarado and Rep. Jeff Leach told the Tribune cameras were not discussed when the bill passed. (The Texas Tribune, Aug. 28, 2026)
  2. July 10, 2024 DPS sent Flock Safety a cease-and-desist letter saying the company lacked the private security license required under the Private Security Act. The complaint that started the inquiry was filed by a Baytown resident. (The Galveston County Daily News, Sept. 25, 2024; The Galveston County Daily News, Sept. 30, 2024)
  3. Oct. 2024 DPS licensed Flock, whose private plate readers served homeowners associations, businesses and homes. The Texan reported Flock kept operating those cameras while licensing was pending, and that a DPS report noted a 2021 finding of unlicensed alarm-installer work without indicating any penalty. (The Texan, Oct. 10, 2024)
  4. 2025 Two 2025 bills to regulate ALPR use did not advance: HB 961 (Rep. Brian Harrison; warrant or court order, violent-crime use only, destruction of unrelated data, published policies) and HB 2083 (Rep. John Bucy; 48-hour default destruction, no sharing with the federal government, private right of action). Both were referred to the House Homeland Security, Public Safety and Veterans' Affairs committee and got no hearing, per Texas Policy Research. The same source says Texas has no ALPR-specific statutory framework. (Texas Legislature, date not shown; Texas Policy Research, date not shown)
  5. May 2025 404 Media reported in May 2025 that a Johnson County Sheriff's Office search of Flock's nationwide network covered more than 83,000 cameras in a case involving a woman who had a self-managed abortion. Sheriff Adam King said it was about her safety, and Flock said she was sought as a missing person. EFF later obtained Flock audit logs and court records (reported Oct. 7, 2025) showing a first search of 1,295 networks (17,684 cameras) and a second of 6,809 networks (83,345 cameras), both logged with the reason "had an abortion, search for female," and an affidavit describing a death investigation of a non-viable fetus. The district attorney's office told deputies she could not be charged. (Electronic Frontier Foundation, Oct. 7, 2025; The Record (Recorded Future News), Oct. 7, 2025)
  6. Aug. 27, 2026 Gov. Greg Abbott directed state agencies to stop funding Flock cameras; spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said state agency funds "cannot be used for Flock cameras." Some outlets date the order Aug. 27 and others Aug. 28. Existing locally funded cameras are not covered. (Texas Public Radio (The Texas Tribune), Aug. 29, 2026; The Texas Tribune, Aug. 28, 2026; Dallas Express, Sept. 7, 2026; Good Good Good (The Texas Tribune), Sept. 1, 2026)
  7. Sept. 8, 2026 TxDOT stopped issuing permits for Flock and other plate readers on state roads at the governor's direction, including approved agreements not yet installed. Existing cameras, including more than 900 operated by DPS, were not affected. The Sept. 8 start date comes from a Schertz police presentation, not TxDOT. (The Texas Tribune, Sept. 17, 2026)
  8. Sept. 24, 2026 The Texas Tribune counted at least 900 Flock cameras shut off across at least 14 cities and counties since state funding ended. Dallas Express counted at least 23 local governments that ended, declined, suspended or reduced Flock use as of Sept. 6. (San Antonio Current (The Texas Tribune), Sept. 24, 2026; Dallas Express, Sept. 7, 2026)
  9. Oct. 5, 2026 The Texas Tribune reported agencies were charging large fees for Flock records or withholding them: North Richland Hills invoiced $2.3 million up front, Irving was reported charging $70,000, one agency quoted KPRC $121,000, and DPS stopped releasing search data and asked the Attorney General for a ruling. The Tribune counted 60 Texas agencies with Flock transparency portals, 16 of which publish search records. (The Texas Tribune, Oct. 5, 2026)
  10. Sept. 2026 A Lufkin police officer was sentenced to 5 years after pleading guilty to 100 felony counts of abuse of official information involving Flock searches, per the Texas Tribune. (Lufkin is in Angelina County, outside this assignment's county list.) (The Texas Tribune, Oct. 5, 2026)
  11. Oct. 9, 2026 Reps. Brian Harrison and Mitch Little said they plan to file bills to ban the devices in the session that begins in January 2027; Harris County Pct. 4 Constable Mark Herman has asked state officials to put Flock regulation on the agenda. (The Texas Tribune, Aug. 28, 2026; FOX 26 Houston, Oct. 9, 2026)

State agencies

Texas Department of Public Safety

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
940
At least 940 DPS cameras installed as of Sept. 2, 2026, per a DPS email shared by a lawmaker (Texas Tribune). DPS told KEYE roughly 900; Rep. Brian Harrison cited over 1,000. DPS does not publish a total.
Contract
Flock Safety: $15,900,000 three-year total · from 2025 · approved by Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority 2025 · Contract between MVCPA and DPS for 1,183 proposed cameras, funded by the auto-insurance fee. (The Texas Tribune, Aug. 28, 2026; The Texas Tribune, Sept. 4, 2026)
Contract
Flock Safety: $3,000,000 one-year · from Aug. 2026 · approved by Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority Aug. 2026 · Approved for 583 more cameras on seven toll roads; status after the Aug. 27 funding order not reported. (The Texas Tribune, Aug. 28, 2026; The Texas Tribune, Sept. 4, 2026)
Contract
Flock Safety: $28,500,000 total (term not reported) · The Texas Tribune reports a $28.5 million DPS Flock contract without giving term or funding. A Tribune/Waco Bridge story cites a $26 million Flock contract approved in 2025 for state roads and Operation Lone Star; the relationship between the figures is unclear. (The Texas Tribune, Aug. 28, 2026; KSAT (The Texas Tribune / The Waco Bridge), Aug. 3, 2026)
Data sharing
Per Texas Tribune reporting (not a DPS policy page): 206 Texas agencies had signed data-sharing agreements by July 2026; in June 2026 about 615,000 searches came from 3,075 agencies, 2,679 of them out of state. On Sept. 3, 2026, DPS said only agencies with signed agreements may search.
  1. 2025 The Texas Tribune and KSAT reported DPS cameras on state roads support Operation Lone Star and were installed under TxDOT permits. (KSAT (The Texas Tribune / The Waco Bridge), Aug. 3, 2026)
  2. June 2026 Texas Tribune analysis: roughly 615,000 searches of the DPS network in June; 48% from outside Texas; Houston police ran about 13%; DPS's own officers just under 9%; 111 searches cited immigration-related reasons. (The Texas Tribune, Sept. 4, 2026)
  3. Sept. 3, 2026 DPS paused new installations after the governor's funding order while keeping existing cameras in use, and limited all searches to agencies with signed agreements. (KEYE CBS Austin, Sept. 4, 2026; The Texas Tribune, Sept. 4, 2026)
  4. Oct. 2026 DPS stopped releasing search logs it had earlier given the Tribune and asked the Attorney General to let it withhold them; it has also challenged requests for camera locations. (The Texas Tribune, Oct. 5, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Contract amounts differ across outlets ($15.9M MVCPA contract, $28.5M separate contract, $26M 'Lone Star' contract); DPS contract documents not pulled.
  • DPS did not say how recurring Flock costs will be paid without state money.
  • Some event dates here are inferred from weekday references (such as “Tuesday”) in news reports; confirm from meeting records.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.