Hood County shuts down county-controlled Flock cameras

Hood County's covered and shut down its flock cameras out of privacy concerns. The automated license plate reader is used by law enforcement across the nation to help solve crimes or find missing people. Fox Force Dan Anglin joins us from Hood County, which is southwest of Fort Worth idea. Hi there, Clarice. That's right. At a time when many cities and communities are debating the presence of flock cameras, Hood County has taken action to do away with theirs. That action or the step was taken last week at the county's commission meeting, severing ties with the license plate reader company Flock Safety. One constable in the county made use of social media to show how they've begun to cover up those cameras no longer in use. The flock technology is touted to assist law enforcement in crime fighting by creating a searchable database for vehicle images. Opponents of the widely used tools say it amounts to warrantless surveillance and the constitutional violation of citizens privacy. The uproar also includes oversight issues and points to documented cases of law enforcement officers misusing information from the system. Some Hood County motorists have differing opinions about whether the benefits of flock cameras are worth it. If you can't go where you're going without being tracked, I mean, we're being tracked on our phones anyway. I mean, if we're being honest, but I mean, you know, that's just kind of another step. And I think that I don't know. You don't know who that information is going to do nothing more than they already do. They already got your license plate number. They already know your name. And like I said, you're not doing nothing wrong. You don't have nothing to worry about. Now, the county commission's vote makes Hood County along with Guadalupe County the 1st 2 in the state to terminate flock camera agreements. Now, the opposition across the state is becoming more vocal with cities and communities debating the issue and discussing whether or not to let voters decide the issue. We should also point out that Hood County say, for instance, in the city of Grandberry, they still have flock cameras because this only applies now to the county cameras.