Manvel City Council unanimously voted to end its contract with Flock Safety at its Sept. 8 meeting.
What you need to know
Flock cameras are manufactured by Flock Safety and capture images of vehicle license plates. That data can then be searched and shared between law enforcement agencies.
Manvel has been using Flock cameras since 2024 through a four-year contract, officials said at the meeting. Keith Traylor, Manvel’s police chief and director of public safety, said the cameras were meant to be a supplemental investigative tool at traffic corridors, such as State Highway 288 and Highway 6.
"This technology does not replace police officers, detectives, good police work or traditional investigative techniques,” Traylor said at the meeting. “It's another tool, but it is a tool that provides investigators and officers with information at a time when minutes can matter."
Now that City Council has voted to end its contract with Flock Safety, all 16 city-operated cameras will be covered within 48 hours and all allocated funding for Flock cameras was removed from the city’s budget for fiscal year 2026-27.
"This is not a request to reduce our commitment to public safety—it's a request to make a different policy and budget choice about this particular vendor and this specific system,” Mayor Dan Davis said at the meeting. “They have no place in the city of Manvel. It's time to deflock Manvel."
The debate
Manvel resident Stephanie Baird opposed the use of Flock cameras due to a lack of privacy, she said at the meeting.
"Flock cameras or [automated license plate readers] as they're known ... are ultimately tools of the surveillance state,” Baird said. “They use AI and they track drivers with this software ... These cameras not only read license plates, but can identify your vehicle by make, model, bumper sticker and can track your entire journey."
Brazoria County Chief Deputy Ian Patin said he was not defending a particular company, but said keeping license plate reader technology is proven effective when it's properly regulated and responsibly used.
"The courts have already decided a simple picture of a license plate going down the road is not a search,” Patin said. “The courts have already decided that license plate reader technology has helped save lives, identify and apprehend dangerous criminals, recover stolen property, locate missing and endangered individuals, and reunite lost and wandering loved ones with their families."
What’s next
City staff have been directed by council to formally submit a 30-day notice of cancellation to Flock Safety to terminate the contract.
Manvel’s Police Department has also immediately shut off external agency access to Manvel’s camera feed, and surrendered its own access to Flock’s regional network.
While it has not yet been decided, council members recommended redirecting funds toward hiring a dedicated human data-analyst for the police department to review local crime trends and analyze police data.
The police department will continue to use traditional investigative techniques, active patrols and standard police procedures as the city considers alternative options, Traylor said.
