r/wylie

Has anyone else in Wylie heard about these Flock cameras? I stumbled across this recently and ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole.

I knew Wylie had license plate readers, but I assumed they only looked for stolen cars or specific suspects. Apparently, they photograph and log every vehicle that passes them, including the plate, make and model, time, and location. That information goes into a national database run by a private company called Flock Safety.

What really caught my attention was hearing Wylie’s assistant police chief explain at a council meeting that agencies in other states can search Wylie’s data without notifying Wylie PD or connecting the search to a local case.

It also looks like the cameras were approved on August 13, 2024, as part of the council’s consent agenda. That is the group of routine items approved together without individual discussion. The cameras were paid for using seized-asset funds, so the expense did not appear in the regular public budget, and there was no competitive bidding process.

There have been some concerning problems with Flock systems elsewhere. Police search records have ended up indexed by public search engines, and unredacted audit logs exposed information connected to more than 2.3 million license plates. Two Texas officers, one in Pasadena and one in Baytown, also resigned amid investigations into allegations that they used Flock to track women.

False alerts are another concern. An LAPD audit found that about one out of every three alerts it reviewed was wrong. In one case, a Wisconsin mother was stopped at gunpoint twice in the same week because of false alerts.

I understand why police departments find these cameras useful, and I’m sure some people will be comfortable with them. Others will not. Either way, I think residents should at least know the system exists, what information it collects, and who can search it.

The reason I’m posting now is that Wylie’s contract automatically renews for another two years unless the city sends a non-renewal notice before September 13. If the city sends the notice before then, it can end the contract without an early termination cost. If it does nothing, Wylie will apparently be committed through 2028.

There is more information at https://deflock-wylie.com