This State Is Expanding Its Warrantless Vehicle Surveillance Database

Texas is expanding its Flock Safety camera surveillance program across the state, alarming many who fear privacy rights violations and other forms of abuse.

The Texas Tribune reported that the state’s Department of Public Safety is expanding the surveillance network and creating a database accessible by multiple law enforcement agencies.

A network of little black cameras on tall metal posts has sprouted up across Texas, in big cities and along remote country roads.

The cameras, produced by Atlanta-based Flock Safety, use artificial intelligence to scan every vehicle that passes by, uploading the plate number, model, color and even bumper stickers to the country’s largest vehicle surveillance database. Law enforcement agencies that contract with the company — here and across the U.S. — can search the accumulated database with a few keystrokes and without a warrant.

A backlash is growing. U.S. Rep. Keith Self, a McKinney Republican, last month proposed legislation to require federal agencies to obtain warrants before accessing Flock camera data. Meanwhile, some Texans are done debating the cameras and are dismantling them instead.

It’s unclear exactly how many cameras dot the state, in large part because one of the biggest users of the cameras is the Texas Department of Public Safety, which declines to disclose how many devices it has positioned across the state.

What is known: The state troopers have partnerships with more than 200 local law enforcement agencies across the state that allow seamless data sharing between DPS and its partner agencies.

Nationally, Flock Safety estimates some 5,000 law enforcement agencies and 6,000 communities use its surveillance products.

Advocacy groups that track camera positions across Texas estimate there are more than 10,000 cameras in the state, including several thousand concentrated in the Houston area. At least 41 cameras have been installed around Waco-area cities and state roadways since 2024, according to public records and law enforcement officials.

texas police when the nearby flock camera detects one yoctogram of weed inside your home https://t.co/5l950HKzwD pic.twitter.com/qSc49zzJMC

— hi im stel (@PATTERNSCREAMER) August 4, 2026

The controversy over Flock Safety cameras in Texas centers on the rapid expansion of automated license plate readers that scan and store vehicle details for law enforcement searches, often without warrants.

Opponents argue the system enables mass surveillance and misuse, including immigration enforcement. “Americans’ Fourth Amendment right to be secure in their privacy does not disappear just because of new technology or artificial intelligence. Americans have a constitutional right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, and our government is supposed to get a warrant before invading that privacy. This bill simply restores that protection. Get a warrant,” said U.S. Rep. Keith Self (TX-3).

Patriot Ryan Tanner arrested after allegedly destroying Flock camera in Hewitt, Texas pic.twitter.com/Ts6RYUHzSv

— Orwell Day (@OrwellDay) July 31, 2026

Kyle City Council member Claudia Zapata added, “The fact that we have definitive proof that not only Texas DPS, but agencies across the nation, have tracked our system and used it in order to enforce immigration is, to me, disgusting,” according to The Texas Observer.

Several Texas cities, including Austin and Bandera have terminated their contracts with Flock Safety, as have many other across the country in response to national backlash against the technology.

On the other side, describe the technology as an essential tool for solving crimes and recovering stolen vehicles. Hewitt Police Chief John McGrath told The Texas Tribune, “We have placed these cameras mainly on the outer limits of our city because what we’re interested in is the people that are coming into our city and committing criminal acts.”

Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Townhall’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.

Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.