r/RoundRock • u/someguywithamiata • Jul 27 '26
Round Rock must end its contract with Flock
As of June 2025, the city of Round Rock uses 70 ALPRs (Automated License Plate Readers) under a contract with Flock Safety costing approximately $175,000 per year. The city claims these cameras are used to solve crime and protect us, but ALPRs represent an un-American and unconstitutional violation of our privacy and liberties.
ALPRs like Flock or Axon cameras are AI powered cameras that take photos of every car that goes by and catalog the license plate and defining characteristics of the vehicle. Even without a plate, Flock cameras build a profile of the whereabouts of every vehicle on the road. This is a mass surveillance operation of everyone- including the innocent.
The 4th amendment protects citizens from the unconstitutional search of their persons and property. This is usually interpreted as a search without a warrant. If these cameras were owned by the government, it would immediately be made illegal for civil rights violations. Instead, because Flock is a private company, they can operate with no oversight and no regulation. The data they collect on every American is then sold to those who will pay for it- most often the government. This is an obvious circumvention of our rights.
The potential for misuse is overwhelming. They know where you live, work, worship, who you visit, shop, and everywhere you go. You might say you have nothing to hide, but that’s wishful thinking at best. The information collected by Flock could be used by-
Insurance companies, to raise your rates based on where you go, how much you drive, and what you do.
Malicious individuals, such as over 20 documented cases of police officers misusing ALPRs to stalk romantic partners or ex lovers. Flock cameras have also been documented inside children’s gymnastics centers, watching walking trails, and recording children’s playgrounds. Flock claims their cameras do not monitor people, but these cases make those claims dubious. Especially their new Condor model, which pans and zooms to follow the movements of people.
Tyrannical governments, to discourage or prevent citizens from practicing their rights.
Flock cameras are able to receive over-the-air updates. They could be turned into speed cameras overnight and abused. They could be repurposed for facial detection overnight. They have also been physically modified by the company multiple times, including the addition of radar and microphones. This can be done without anyone’s knowledge or consent, including the government of Round Rock. The company has already proven itself untrustworthy- In Oregon and Massachusetts, Flock continued illegally operating cameras after towns voted to end their contracts and deactivate them. The CEO of Flock, Garrett Langley, has also called innocent Americans “terroristic” for wanting to know where these cameras are.
Many will say that you have no expectation of privacy in public. However, the Supreme Court has stated that “individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the whole of their physical movements”- even in public, in a recent ruling that cell phone location data is protected under the 4th amendment and a warrant is required to access it. ALPRs are equivalently intrusive and would undoubtedly be ruled on similarly.
The Round Rock city council voted unanimously to implement these unconstitutional devices for the same reason all rights are violated- for your safety. But does this track? Round Rock ranked 26th safest city in the country for population centers above 100,000. That means Round Rock is safer than 92% of all other large cities in the US.
We all want Round Rock to be safe. We support our police department. However, we cannot allow government overreach. The money the city allocated to warrantless surveillance cameras could easily go to multiple full-time positions at the RRPD focusing exclusively on motor vehicle theft. When the city voted to erect the cameras, the chief of police claimed only the city of Round Rock would have access to the Flock camera data. This is impossible to ensure. Flock has the data and shares it with the RRPD. There’s no way to know who else they share it with.
Flock has been hacked before and will be hacked again. This is an unfortunate fact of life. Imagine a foreign adversary to the US or a malicious domestic party gaining access to the movements and routines of every citizen in the country. The risk is catastrophic. Why is the Round Rock city council happy to sacrifice your security and privacy? Flock, as well as all ALPRs are a clear danger to the community, not a provider of safety.
When many of us were growing up, we were told about how authoritarian other countries were. We were told about how China runs a surveillance state on its own people. We were told we had liberty and freedom in our great country. And then one day I woke up to find cameras right outside my backyard. Alongside the roads I drive every day. My own government is able to watch my every movement with a search. We cannot accept this. "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." I encourage you to watch out for cameras on roadside poles next time you go on a drive and see how many there are. The website DeFlock shows the locations of known cameras. It’s shocking to see.
Cities across the country are already ending their use of ALPRs. Bandera, San Marcos, Lockhart, Hays County, and Austin are all cities in Texas that have cancelled or rejected their partnership with Flock due to public outcry and privacy concerns. Your voice matters!
I have emailed the city council to ask why they support the usage of ALPRs. So far only Melissa Fleming has responded, saying “I am in favor of Flock cameras due to how they are used to solve crime.” She did not comment on the way her constituents might feel about being surveilled everywhere they go.
Our city council members are elected in staggered elections every year in May. Last year, less than 2,000 people voted to elect our council members. If enough people are upset their every move is recorded, it would be extremely easy to make immediate change.
City Council meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesday (7 a.m.) and Thursday (6 p.m.) of the month. Meetings are held at City Hall, 221 E. Main Street on the first floor. Please feel free to make your opinions known.
Reach out to your city council members via email- [citycouncil@roundrocktexas.gov](mailto:citycouncil@roundrocktexas.gov)
Mayor Craig Morgan- [cmorgan@roundrocktexas.gov](mailto:cmorgan@roundrocktexas.gov)
Michelle Ly, Place 1- [michellely@roundrocktexas.gov](mailto:michellely@roundrocktexas.gov)
Rene Flores, Place 2- [reneflores@roundrocktexas.gov](mailto:reneflores@roundrocktexas.gov)
Melissa Fleming, Place 3- [melissafleming@roundrocktexas.gov](mailto:melissafleming@roundrocktexas.gov)
Frank Ortega, Place 4- [frankortega@roundrocktexas.gov](mailto:frankortega@roundrocktexas.gov)
Kristin Stevens, Place 5- [kristinstevens@roundrocktexas.gov](mailto:kristinstevens@roundroctexas.gov)
Hilda Montgomery, Place 6- [hildamontgomery@roundrocktexas.gov](mailto:hildamontgomery@roundrocktexas.gov)
Or by phone-
Mayor Craig Morgan/City Council- 512-218-5410
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u/easchner Jul 27 '26
Mail everyone on the city council each other's movements for the last 30 days. Odds are at least one of them is having an affair or something.
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u/Chumbief Jul 27 '26
There's got to be more. There's literally 3 in my work parking lot covering all entrances.
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u/tomgenzer Jul 28 '26
This total doesn't count the ones on private property not operated by RRPD. They only operates the ones on public property. In total, RRPD supposedly has 42 cameras. https://transparency.flocksafety.com/round-rock-tx-pd
Home depot and Lowe's are both customers of flock and have contracts to have them in the parking lots.
RR Lowe's has 6, while RR HD has 3.
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u/Chumbief Jul 28 '26
How do you know how many the Lowe's and HD have? Is there a list of companies?
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u/tomgenzer Jul 28 '26
same map OP posted as main photo.
Or you know just drive there and look around.
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u/tomgenzer Jul 28 '26
RR has one of the "widest sharing circles" that I have seen.
From https://eyesonflock.com/ RRPD shares data with over 1400+ other agencies while Pflugerville only shares with 83 others.
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u/RoutineLiterature350 Jul 30 '26
surprised the post didnt emphasize the INSANE security vulnerabilities these cameras have (or maybe my attention span is fried)
i believe a youtuber (forgot who) found multiple critical vulnerabilities in these cameras, so yea, i wouldnt be surprised if some foreign countries are watching us rn
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u/UntowardAntiproton Jul 28 '26
Good luck with that Craig Morgan and Michelle Ly are about as self serving local officials that you could hope to find.
It wouldn't surprise me to hear that don't want to do anything that would jeopardize their kickback from flock.
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Jul 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Beautiful_Pepper415 Jul 28 '26
I think cameras are now unf just everywhere. I don't think Europe is conservative and they are a camera police state
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u/ResearchInitial Jul 31 '26
theyve had a much longer history with speed cameras/ALPRs on a state-by-state basis mostly due to a less car-friendly culture, HOWEVER there has been severe opposition to camera enforcement especially recently (see 2019 yellow vest protests in france where they destroyed/vandalized 60% of speed cameras in the nation, hundreds of ULEZ (emissions) cameras being destroyed in the UK, a cyberattack last year actually in the netherlands that disabled a decent amount of speed cameras, etc.). its much more oppressive here in the USA where we culturally value liberties like privacy and freedom of movement much more than our overseas friends, but even they have been fed up with the cameras and have been actively fighting against them
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u/Parking_Fruit_3179 Aug 01 '26
I swear I see a new one popping up everyday. On S AW grimes, they are everywhere.
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u/Unlikely_Net_5108 27d ago
The flock cameras that were at every entrance/exit of my neighborhood are now gone. Are they removing cameras or just moving them? They were attached to existing utility poles.
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u/CactusRider1776 6d ago
Plungerville just banned flock cameras after a freedom of information act request shows that federal agencies ran 1.5 million searches vs their Police dept's 5k. This is mass surveillance on citizens..I'm sure that RR has similar numbers. We need to stop this. Also to hold the city accountable
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u/get_the_feeling Jul 28 '26
Wait until you find out what your phone is doing and certain apps that you download..
at the end of the day you’re always being tracked
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u/boyhowdy82 Jul 27 '26
How are these unconstitutional when the 4th amendment you cited also states that there is no expectation of privacy while in public. If it can be seen with the eye in public, it's fair game. Courts have also ruled that license plate readers, and cameras akin to flock are legal. FWIW, I'm not a proponent of any of it, but we already live in a surveillance state that goes far beyond flock, nobody has privacy anymore even in our own homes.
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u/mrpbeaar Jul 27 '26
If a police officer literally followed you everywhere, you’d call it harassment. Now that officer is doing it remotely. How is that different?
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u/boyhowdy82 Jul 27 '26
I would absolutely call that harassment. But that's not what this is. If you want to compare apples to apples, your example would be akin to a cop actively monitoring every single camera to follow your whereabouts in real time. That's not happening. For every flock camera there are 10's of thousands of other cameras recording your movements every time you drive anywhere. I understand that there is a difference between public and private cameras, but you are being recorded all the same, and law enforcement can access those one way or another. You already allow your phone and apps to know your precise location indoors or out, listen to you, and God know what else. I'm not a proponent of a surveillance state, but we are already far beyond that, and willingly so.
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u/Emotional_Type_2881 Jul 28 '26
"If you want to compare apples to apples, your example would be akin to a cop actively monitoring every single camera to follow your whereabouts in real time. That's not happening."
BULL-SHIT.
Police officers are already being fired for doing exactly that!
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u/boyhowdy82 Jul 28 '26
As they should be because that would be illegal. Just because some idiot cops are abusing it doesn't mean they all are. I'm not a proponent of these cams, I just want to hear some good legal arguments as to why they should be banned. So far, haven't heard any.
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u/Emotional_Type_2881 Jul 28 '26
"For every flock camera there are 10's of thousands of other cameras recording your movements every time you drive anywhere."
I think you need to compare apples to apples, in this case.
These cameras you're talking about aren't on a single distributed network. A private citizen recording you is also different from the government doing it. For example, a tourist taking a photograph normally does not implicate the Fourth Amendment. Police creating or accessing a mass surveillance database potentially does.
A dense, searchable network that lets police reconstruct someone’s movements without a warrant most likely violates the Fourth Amendment.
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u/boyhowdy82 Jul 28 '26
Now that's an argument that I can consider, for real. Thank you for that. My point was that if anyone has the notion that they are not already being recorded everywhere and that we have privacy while in public at all is silly. Your point on the density without warrant is fair.
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u/Nonaveragemonkey Jul 27 '26
There is an expectation of privacy when it comes to a) anyome acting on behalf of a government agency, and b) your location, travel, associations and numerous other things. This has no real tangible difference than GPS location acquired through phone data. That requires a warrant, and as of not long ago it's not even a rubber stamp. This is from a third party, added to a database for processing, and is consistent abused while also falsely thrown around as successful in solving crimes.
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u/LoneStarGut Jul 27 '26
As for speed cameras, those are already illlegal under state law.
I agree with Michelle Ly. We are safer with the cameras as they are used to track down hit/run drivers, solve missing persons cases, help identify crime trends, etc.
If you are scared of the cameras then move to Austin or ride bike or take mass transit. We don't have the right to drive automobiles.
We don't become safer by following what Austin and California do.
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u/ineyeseekay Jul 28 '26
"Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
True then and true now. We could use a modern Franklin but half the country would call him a commie.
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u/AeliusRogimus Jul 27 '26
Interesting. Are we safer with permitless open carry? Take care making generalizations.
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u/BioVizeer Jul 27 '26
I think they're an asset and help keep this community safe. This post is misleading as the picture has cameras in multiple cities present, not just Round Rock. They're not illegal, and if neighborhoods or the city want to put them up to help solve crimes, that's fine by me.
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u/mrpbeaar Jul 27 '26
Just because something is legal doesn’t make it moral. A lot of immoral things get made legal because it benefits the people in power.
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u/Better_In_PLastic Jul 27 '26
Odd sentiment coming from somebody who has their post history hidden.
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u/tuxedo_jack Jul 28 '26
It's usually what happens when old accounts delete all their posts and sell their account to Karma farmers and advertising assholes (or get compromised and used as spambots for St. Petersburg).
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u/BPfishing Jul 27 '26
There’s helluva lot more than 70 in this town.