Dallas City Council members signaled Wednesday that they plan to preserve $1.5 million in local taxpayer funding for more than 300 Flock Safety cameras, even as a new poll found nearly two-thirds of likely Texas voters oppose local-government use of automatic license plate readers.
All but three council members opposed Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s proposed budget amendment during a nonbinding straw vote at the September 2 workshop. Bazaldua, Council Member Paula Blackmon and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Jaime Resendez supported removing the funding, KERA reported. The council plans to vote on final budget adoption September 16.
Council turns back proposed cut
Bazaldua proposed moving $1 million from Flock to sidewalks and street lighting and directing another $500,000 to eviction advocacy. The remaining council members rejected the change in the preliminary vote.
The vote came one day after the Dallas Police Department announced plans to cancel 321 state-supported Flock cameras on September 15 because of Gov. Greg Abbott’s funding freeze. More than 300 other cameras will remain, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Dallas records show the City Council authorized a three-year Flock contract worth up to $5,738,414.61 in May 2025. The funding plan included $3,922,914.61 from the General Fund, $1,690,500 from a state Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority grant fund and $125,000 from a federal homeland security grant.
Police cite murder cases
DPD told council members that Flock had helped solve 14 murder cases this year, along with robberies and assaults, and had assisted searches for critical missing people, KERA reported. Days earlier, Deputy Chief William Griffith described Flock as the primary investigative tool in 12 Dallas homicide cases this year and 15 in 2025, according to a CBS Texas report. The reports described Flock’s role differently and did not explain the numerical difference.
About 1,900 Dallas police officers and city employees currently have approved access to the Flock system, which includes 684 cameras pending the September 15 cancellations.
DPD told council members that it limits access to trained personnel whose jobs require the system and requires users to enter an investigative reason and case number for each search.
Council Member Kathy Stewart supported keeping the system while strengthening oversight. “The answer to misuse is stronger safeguards, not eliminating an effective tool,” Stewart said.
Written policy conflicts with one-year claim
Griffith said Dallas retains Flock information for one year and audits searches weekly. However, DPD’s publicly posted ALPR policy, last revised March 10, 2023, says the department retains ALPR data for 30 days. The order allows DPD to preserve hits or reads tied to enforcement action or a criminal investigation.
The public record does not show whether DPD adopted a newer Flock-specific policy that supersedes the 30-day rule. The city’s posted contract summary also does not identify a retention period.
Bazaldua said Dallas shares Flock data with more than 50 agencies and told the council, “We cannot control who has access to our technology.” DPD’s general order says memoranda of understanding govern interagency sharing and requires staff to document outside dissemination, but the city records reviewed by DX do not identify the current partner agencies.
The public sources reviewed by DX also do not show how often DPD’s weekly audits have flagged improper or questionable searches, if at all, or what corrective action followed.
Poll shows statewide opposition
The Overton Insights poll found that 63.6% of respondents opposed local governments using automatic license plate reader cameras such as Flock at public intersections. Another 28.1% supported the cameras, and 8.3% remained unsure.
Overton and the Texas Public Policy Foundation surveyed 1,167 likely Texas voters from August 24 through August 26. The text-to-web survey reported a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points and weighted results across political and demographic measures. The survey did not report a Dallas-only result.
The September 16 vote will determine whether the local Flock funding remains in Dallas’ final fiscal year 2026-27 budget.
Provided by Dallas Express
