Flock cameras centered in Harris County Commissioners Court

All right, welcome back to your news here. The time now is 5:14. So we got to talk about Flock cameras. The debate is a heated one that we see play out all across the country. But today in Houston, county leaders came together to really dive in and share their thoughts, but also listen to the public. And it really kind of came down to two questions, right? Who can see the information that is collected from these Flock cameras? And then how is it being used? Because we've seen across the country and here locally that folks who have access to the information are using them incorrectly, not in its intended use. That's a problem. Karis Belger joining us now live to give us the ins and outs of that discussion here today. Karis. Yeah, Anthony, Judge Elena Hidalgo voted to pause the use of the cameras until a committee could be formed to look at all of the information and answer some of those questions. Who's using it? Who has access to it? And what exactly happens to the data? And how long is it stored? Now, during a report today in Commissioner's Court, it came up that the county itself is paying for about 154 cameras out of the more than 5,000 across Harris County. And I wanna point out that previously, Judge Hidalgo has voted in favor of these cameras more than once. And that became a point of contention earlier today during the meeting between her and Commissioner Leslie Briones. Commissioner Briones, as we previously reported, ordered the decommissioning of the cameras within her precinct, Precinct 4. But here's the thing with these cameras. They can tell you where a car is. They can read license plates. They can tell you when or where somebody was driving, and they, as I mentioned, also hold and collect that information. And that's been a concern not just for the commissioners, but for private citizens as well. Now, the sheriff's office also administers about 500 additional cameras through arrangements with various groups like homeowners associations. Now, Hidalgo wants details on the locations of the cameras, who can access what it records, and what exactly people are searching for. It even came up today during a meeting that a staff member in Commissioner Ramsey's office, accessed the cameras 25 separate times. And apparently, at least that's what we were told, it was to assist with an investigation. Now, Commissioner Tom Ramsey says he supports more accountability, but says the cameras themselves should keep operating. Trust does not eliminate accountability. And I believe we can work with the state and law enforcement partners to find those important guidelines and those important criteria and in terms of managing, I think, this important tool. All right, so Karis, I guess the question here is, I got a couple questions, but first I want to know what would it take to actually get this pause put in place? Well, suspending the contract altogether would mean making an amendment. In the meantime, there are a few commissioners who voted to suspend the cameras that are in their precincts while that committee I mentioned is formed, and they can continue searching through what answers are in place and put in more provisions to make sure they're not abused in the future. And you know, Karis, I would imagine some of the conversation also had to center around some of the successes of Flock Camera. Did any one of those commissioners discuss the success and some of the stories that they believe led to an arrest because of these cameras? Well, no specific stories were spoken about today in Commissioner's Court. It was mentioned that they do help in the assistance of solving crimes, finding missing people, looking for people who may have a warrant for their arrest. However, another counterargument came out that the data that shows that they actually reduced crime, the jury is still out on that one. So still a lot of things up in the air, at least as far as the county commissioners are concerned. All right. It's a healthy discussion happening there, Karis. Thank you so much. And again, I wanted you guys to send us a text and let me know what you think about flock cameras. And I'm getting a lot of them coming in right now. But one viewer says, I don't understand the problem behind flock cameras. We can go nowhere these days without being filmed with ring cameras, auto cameras, security cameras, et cetera. Flock cameras help solve crimes. Yes, they have been misused, but what hasn't been by law enforcement? With all these things, there's good and bad. That's coming from Elaine in League City. Elaine, thank you so much. And Elaine, I gotta say, I agree with a lot of what you're saying there because just off the top of my head, I can remember just a week or two ago, we had a tragic story where a five-year-old girl in a road rage incident was shot and killed. A guy on the highway opened fire in this vehicle and this five-year-old girl was tragically killed. And police say flock Cameras is what led to him being arrested. But you also have to look at the other side of this. We can think about the law enforcement officer in Katy, I believe it was, where he was relieved of duty for using this system incorrectly. I mean, you see it all across the country. Folks are using this to track their ex-wives, their girlfriends. That's not what this system is for. So there's legitimate conversation and concern around this camera, these cameras, and how they're being used, and again, and who has access. We'll read a couple of more here. Dick, thank you so much for watching. Dick says keep the cameras and then regulate the access. And that is the thing, regulating the access across the board. Because what we're seeing here is not all these police departments have the same policies in place to regulate the access to it. So a lot of folks are like, hey, how is it that, for example, Commissioner Ramsey was talking about how someone on his staff who has a law enforcement title or is law enforcement adjacent had access to the system. still an employee in his office why didn't law enforcement specifically handle that and not an employee so i get both sides of the conversation i think it's healthy and i'm glad we're having it um i'll read one more here um chanel says uh flip-flop the flocks i don't know what that means but cameras were voted out so don't play around with our vote okay well thank you guys so much one more here flocks are important and it's an important tool for law enforcement if it's used properly. And again, I think that's the asterisk, right? If it's used properly. So good conversation happening there in commissioner's court. We'll see what happens with it. But again, Leslie Briones, I know has decommissioned all the 61 cameras there in her district. We'll see what's happening with the other commissioners there.