https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/us/red-states-republicans-flock-cameras.htmlThe Texas governor, Greg Abbott, directed police departments last week to stop spending state money on Flock Safety cameras, the license-plate readers that have drawn bipartisan backlash around the country.Days later in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration ordered the systems removed from state roads. Mr. DeSantis has described the surveillance technology as “out of control.”Both governors are tough-on-crime Republicans with deep backing from law enforcement agencies. Yet their moves underscore how the political winds are shifting against Flock and other plate-reading systems that have been embraced by police departments.The cameras, which began rapidly appearing by the tens of thousands on American roads in recent years, track vehicles and feed surveillance databases. The networks of cameras can be used to assist officers by quickly locating vehicles connected with crimes. But concerns about a sweeping system of government surveillance and about abuses by individual officers have brought mounting opposition.Flock cameras and others like them have become a campaign issue in several states, in some cases uniting Republicans and Democrats.The result of the actions in Texas and Florida: Police departments are falling in line behind their governors and dismantling their license-plate readers. They have begun doing so even as they extol the cameras’ crime-fighting capabilities. In Jacksonville, Fla., the sheriff, a Republican, announced on Monday he was pausing his agency’s program of 150 cameras — one week after the office released a documentary-style video lauding their role in solving a kidnapping, among other crimes.The moves in Texas and Florida are unfolding as Republican elected officials elsewhere are mulling their own restrictions.
In Indiana, Republicans have signaled they will draft legislation to set minimum law enforcement standards for the technology. In Kansas, some Republican lawmakers now say they want to tighten restrictions and oversight after earlier legislation had made it easier for the police to deploy license-plate readers.In Tennessee, the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which has backed some of the state’s top Republicans, celebrated a unanimous Knox County Commission vote this week to remove Flock cameras. The ordinance was signed by the outgoing mayor, Glenn Jacobs, a Republican better known as the wrestler Kane.Barry Friedman, a professor at the New York University School of Law and the director of its Policing Project, said he is not surprised conservatives are realizing the perils of the rapidly deployed technology.“I can’t imagine what would be a greater affront to conservatives than the government spying on multitudes of blameless people,” Mr. Friedman said.Democratic leaders have also taken steps to address concerns. In Columbus, Ohio, for example, Mayor Andrew Ginther paused the city’s Flock program this week to investigate potential misuse by an officer. Los Angeles has also paused its use of the cameras.Although several companies have contracts with police departments for license-plate readers, Flock has attracted the most vitriol, in part because of the size of its network. Its contracts with 7,000 law enforcement agencies cover nearly every state. The company has more than 100,000 cameras feeding into its vast database.Some officers have abused their access to the information collected by the cameras. In East Texas, an officer was accused of using Flock more than 10,000 times to track his ex-girlfriend and others. Mr. Abbott’s office cited the case to support halting state spending on Flock cameras.
A Flock spokesman said its technology was an important public safety tool and that it supported bipartisan legislation “that puts strong privacy, transparency, and accountability guardrails in place.”The Dallas Police Department said 321 of its Flock cameras would be deactivated, though at least 300 others will remain in use because they were not purchased with state funds. Several smaller Texas cities said they were stopping their Flock programs.Mitch Little, a Republican state representative in a North Texas district, said he would consider a ban on Flock cameras despite their popularity with the police. “That’s really not the job of the Legislature to make law enforcement’s job easier,” Mr. Little said.Mr. DeSantis, who frequently hails his state as a conservative bastion, said his concern was over the extent of the surveillance.“What we don’t want in the state of Florida is to have a digital A.I. surveillance state where everything we’re doing is being tracked at all times,” Mr. DeSantis told reporters.While Florida police officials have mostly avoided directly criticizing Mr. DeSantis, Sheriff Bill Prummell of Charlotte County, in southwest Florida, said “criminals are jumping up and down for joy” at the state’s order.Sheriff Prummell criticized the “knee-jerk reactions to something that really isn’t a problem,” and said the response ignored the benefits of the technology.Although the order applies only to state roads, departments in communities like Jacksonville and Miami-Dade County suspended their entire programs.Not all Florida departments were pausing their programs. Sheriffs in Polk and Orange Counties, in Greater Orlando, said they will operate cameras on nonstate roads.“Technology already knows everything about all of us,” Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County said. “What we have to do in government is to make sure that it’s used appropriately.”
>>1534373>noooo you can't reject the police state you have to consent to having cameras record your every movement bigot why won't Republicans comply REEEEEEEEEEEEStay mad, blue state faggot.
>>1534548Blue states are even more against these fucking things. They literally keep getting chopped down or destroyed there.
>>1534553>blue states are against mass-surveillance>really_nigga.jpgOh do go on. Tell me more.
>>1534373Good good. Will blue cities follow suit?>NoOf course not. Where's Chicago, LA, and other blue police states?
>>1534559This is pretty bipartisan; no one wants these retards.
>>1534559>>1534564you're really piling on the delusions tonight huh
>>1534559>>1534564>https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/homer-glen-suspends-flock-cameras>https://www.axios.com/local/philadelphia/2026/09/02/flock-cameras-opposition-pennsylvania-josh-shapiro>https://www.inquirer.com/south-jersey/shamong-township-burlington-county-flock-cameras-20260903.htmlThis is not a partisan issue. People generally hate these things and this fucking company.
>>1534565I understand Democrat oters don't want them, but the Democrat politicians do. >>1534568Stop posting on this board. You're a worthless piece of shit that never adds anything.
>>1534576i'll stop posting if you finally do what your mother wishes she did
>>1534565>This is pretty bipartisan; no one wants these retards.So show me the democrat politicians putting a stop to this the same way as Abbott, DeSantis, etc.
>>1534578No you won't you have nothing in your life.
>>1534582do i even have to say it
>>1534580Florida and Texas are some of the few states where the governor can just abruptly yank funding without a vote. Shaprio already expressed support for a ban but for now all he can do is ban them on state property.
>>1534373Republican's are no longer tough-on-crime because they're against the government spying on them.Fucking what?
>>1534585.... soooooo you can't show me any democrat politicians doing this
>>1534588Technically the article does mention one to make it seem like Dems give a shit.But major cities and whole states? Zero. Because Democrat politicians are likely invested in flock or getting kickbacks as per usual Demomafia style.
>>1534373Good. Fuck Flock.
>>1534548>bipartisan issue>MAGA instantly makes it partisanEvery fucking time.
>>1534595>keeps calling it a bipartisan issue>can't show the "bipartisan" part
>>1534598they showed it to you, unfortunately you can't read
>>1534599Yeah I can't read where democrats put a stop to flock cameras in their states...BECAUSE IT ISN'T THERE
>>1534600https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/winona-wont-replace-flock-cameras-after-thefts-took-all-of-citys-devices-offline/
>>1534601Yup. Still not seeing a democrat in office shutting down flock cameras and removing them from their state. It's almost as if dems hate freedom and they have a retarded fanbase that keeps them employed trampling on their rights.
>>1534604>those democrats don't countwe know, esl shill. we know
>>1534605>no no this is TOTALLY the same thing as what DeSantis and Abbott didlol
>>1534607you really need a real job
>>1534600>>1534604>>1534607Again, Florida and Texas are some of the only states where the governor can just yank funding so suddenly. Most other states, red or blue, have to get approval and past legislation in their senate first.
>>1534609So the only defense you have for why democrat politicians aren't putting a stop to flock cameras... is because they can't. Welp I'll just take that as yet another reason why red states are better than blue states.
>>1534609don't bother, he can't read anyways
>>1534609You know it's really bad when the esl shill bot here >>1534611 has to defend you.Retarded process or no, the fact that you can't show just one blue state where every democrat involved with the process worked together to get rid of flock cameras, says a lot. Clearly one side values 4A rights more than the other. Hopefully you'll take this L, learn from it, and elect better politicians... but then the democrat party wouldn't exist.
eel shill is projecting again
>>1534609The blue state Dem politicians are against it...BUT the blue state Dem politicians can't do anything about it because they need the approval of the Democrat majorities in the senate.Gold medal metal gymnast.
>>1534613Goddamnit, quit drinking you fucking brown crippled faggot.
and pretending to be multiple people
>>1534614>metal gymnast.That's pretty brutal.
>>1534619*mental.Anon isn't cool enough to be metal.
>>1534614Did you know taking things to a vote takes time?
>>1534624NTA, have dems taken anything to a vote yet?Seriously, if you can show me a democrat sponsored bill to ban flock cameras I'll at least acknowledge that.
>>1534625>NTALOL
>>1534576You're being ESL, and giving away the fact that conservatives will find anything, even a bipartisan issue to try to attack others.
>>1534624Depends on the urgency of the matter.Obviously Democrats, based on their commie tendencies, need to surveil and ensure there's no violation of the party politics.It's a fact that behind every "self-flushing" toilet, there's a Democrat who is pushing the button after stealing your penis data.
>>1534625>>1534635>>1534614Amazing how you give yourself away as an ESL with just one simple word.
>>1534638You wish you made $125/hr shitposing on the interbutts like me.
>>1534645Quit oretending to be me,
>>1534645>>1534646I'm the real eel.
>>1534373These retards just do whatever they’re told as long as they think their daddy governors are “in the right.” What a bunch of no-brained retards. Disabling their lisence plate detectors? WHY?!
>>1534660Probably to own the libs or something.
>>1534661More like owning themselves by letting immigrants drive around unchecked. DeSantis and Abbott don't care about their communities getting polluted with immigrants, and it shows
>>1534663Wait, Florida doesn't allow illegals licences or plates.I'm retarded.
>I'm retardedwe know
>>1534663This is a post untethered to reality
