Pflugerville City Council votes to end Flock Safety contract

Pflugerville officials terminated the city’s contract with Flock Safety during an Aug. 25 City Council meeting.

What happened

Council members voted unanimously to not renew a lease with Flock for automated license plate readers that would have cost $87,500 per year.

Ahead of the vote, City Manager James Hartshorn directed staff to cover the city-leased Flock cameras and turn off the license plate reader system until further direction was given by Council, according to a post on Facebook.

The post stated an issue was discovered in Flock's operating system that permitted nonpartner law enforcement agencies to access the city's Flock data.

Council member Jonathan Coffman said during the meeting that a Pflugerville resident’s review of Flock records raised questions about who could search data collected by the cameras.

In a Facebook post on Aug. 24, Sam Aly said he obtained Flock audit records from the city of Pflugerville through an open-records request. He said he reviewed records from Feb. 16-Aug. 15, and found that outside agencies searched Pflugerville's camera data almost 1.6 million times.

What they’re saying

Council Member Rudy Metayer said Flock has been an unreliable partner for the city.

“We need to get them the hell out of here,” Metayer said to the cheers of attendees at the meeting.

Pflugerville Police Chief Willie Richards spoke on the importance of technology in policing, but said he has identified significant issues that made it difficult to have confidence in Flock.

“Clarity around how we protect community data, uphold expectations of data preservation and maintain security measures is essential, and currently I do not have that clarity,” Richards said. “At this point I cannot recommend renewing [the contract].”

Flock Safety did not immediately respond to Community Impact’s request for comment.

More than a dozen speakers spoke against the Flock contract during public comment, including Austin City Council member Mike Siegel. The city of Austin halted its contract with Flock Safety in June 2025.

“On behalf of the city, I want to thank and congratulate you for joining us in having a Flock-free zone here in Travis County,” Siegel said. “It means a lot taking this step.”

The background

The Pflugerville Police Department has utilized Flock automated license plate reader cameras since 2022. According to the city, the cameras were located in key areas to capture images of vehicle license plates and do not track people or use facial recognition. City documents state the cameras are not used for immigration enforcement or any other purpose outside of lawful public safety work.

In addition to the city of Austin, San Marcos and Hays County have either opted not to expand or ended contracts with Flock Safety in recent years.

Pflugerville officials delayed a decision about whether to keep the city’s Flock cameras during an Aug. 11 City Council meeting.