League City Voters Become First in Texas to Decide Flock Cameras’ Fate

League City voters decide Tuesday, November 3, whether their police department keeps its Flock license plate cameras, the first such vote in Texas, The Texas Tribune reported.

Proposition A asks: “As a nonbinding statement of voter preference, should the League City Police Department continue using automated license plate reader cameras at fixed locations on public roadways for law enforcement purposes?”

The ballot calls the question nonbinding. The City Council has since decided in advance what a no vote will do.

What a No Vote Does

The council adopted Resolution No. 2026-185 by an 8-0 vote on October 13. It takes effect only if the official canvass shows a majority voted no. It then applies “without further Council action,” except for steps it reserves for council approval.

The city manager must have the vendor remove the city’s roadside cameras within 72 hours after the canvass. Any camera still standing at that deadline must be covered or bagged so it cannot capture plates or related data.

“I want to show … we’re going to have the procedures already in place, there’s no second vote needed,” Mayor Nick Long said at the October 13 meeting.

Homeowners’ association cameras in city rights of way must also come out, on deadlines staff will set. The manager must review the city’s Flock agreements, and staff must recommend other public safety uses for any money left after the city’s contract obligations. The resolution does not authorize breaking an existing agreement. If voters say yes, it never takes effect.

The Cameras

The city manages 55 Flock cameras, police told Fox 26. Officers can also reach 23 cameras run by homeowners’ associations and six run by private businesses, for 84 in all. The department put its annual Flock contract at $175,000.

Police say the system takes still images of vehicles and plates, records no audio or video and uses no facial recognition. Department policy keeps vehicle data for 30 days unless it is preserved as evidence. Officials have said the cameras assisted in more than 300 criminal investigations since use began in December 2022, Community Impact reported.

More than 400 agencies can reach League City’s camera data, and all but the FBI are in Texas, the Tribune reported from the city’s Flock portal. The Tribune also reported that five Houston-area police departments have arrested officers or opened investigations over alleged misuse of Flock data.

“They definitely work, and they definitely have privacy concerns, so I think both things can be true,” Long told the Tribune. He said data leaving the city concerns him more than misuse by his own officers.

Flock Safety said it will “respect any decision League City makes.”

How It Reached the Ballot

Reports of the council’s August 11 vote differed, and city records show why. Ordinance No. 2026-27 passed 6-1 on first reading and 7-0 on final reading, with one member absent. The council also created a Citizen Data Privacy Committee, adopted on second reading October 13.

The vote comes as Texas governments pull back from the cameras. Gov. Greg Abbott barred state money for them in August and halted new installations along state roads. Comptroller Don Huffines cut them from the grants his office administers, and the Midland City Council ended its Flock contract. Kyle and Laredo plan votes of their own in May, the Tribune reported.

York, Maine, also votes Tuesday, and its officials covered their cameras until voters decide. League City’s stayed on through early voting. If a majority votes no, the council has already ordered them down.