Cedar Park City Council to discuss Flock cameras at special meeting Oct. 13

Cedar Park City Council members will discuss automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, which include Flock Safety cameras, at a specially called City Council meeting Oct. 13.

Before you go

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in the multi-purpose room in Building Three at City Hall, not in the City Council chambers. The meeting agenda lists discussion only, meaning no immediate action is set to be taken regarding the city's Flock Safety contract.

Some context

Flock Safety makes ALPRs that photograph all vehicles passing by. The company uses artificial intelligence to interpret the photos, tagging them with data such as license plate numbers, vehicle color, make and model, and other identifying characteristics, Flock Safety representative Ian Leslie said at an Aug. 26 Liberty Hill City Council meeting.

ALPRs have been controversial in Central Texas and across the country, as members of the public have raised concerns about privacy, accountability and data security.

Those in favor of the use of the cameras say they are a valuable public safety tool and do not violate privacy rights.

Several area cities, including Leander, Liberty Hill and Pflugerville, have ended their contracts with Flock and shut down the cameras in recent months. Austin adopted new rules for oversight of surveillance technology in May and ended its partnership with Flock in June.