Wylie votes to end Flock camera usage

The Wiley City Council voted to end the city's contract with flock surveillance cameras. There's been growing backlash against the cameras, which monitor passing vehicles and then put them in a database. Fox Sports. David Centenary spoke to the mayor about the decision, and he joins us now with more David. Hey, Heather, Heather. Well, there's no question that flock cameras help law enforcement agencies solve crimes. But for some people, there are major privacy concerns in the city of Wiley is the latest city to take action. There's a growing nationwide concern surrounding flock cameras, and so I think it's just a lot of people who are concerned about maybe ending up in a surveillance state. Austin Gregory leads the charge against flock cameras in his community. He runs the group deflock Wiley. The same thing is like you lock your door, you close your blinds at night. You don't have anything to hide, but you just want your privacy and your rights. Wiley has six flock camera license plate readers. But on Tuesday, City Council voted unanimously to not renew its flock camera contract. It was a difficult decision, I believe, for all of us, including myself. Mayor Matthew Porter acknowledges that flock helps law enforcement agencies solve crimes, but he believes there are not enough privacy guardrails related to other agencies using their cameras where people from other departments and agencies have misused that data and that protections just aren't there and are not required in the terms of the existing contract. So you've seen outside agencies tapping into your cameras without giving a documented reason. Correct stories. And this during Tuesday's meeting, Wiley Police Department Assistant Chief Tommy Walters highlighted a list of crimes. Flock cameras helped solve, including a murder earlier this year. We can do more with less because of technologies like this. In a statement to Fox four about City Council's decision to abandon the flock contract, Assistant Chief Walters says it will definitely create some challenges as license plate readers are valuable tools in helping to identify and apprehend criminals, especially those that come into town to commit crimes. One of the things we didn't do was say we were completely and permanently closing the door. On Tuesday, Wiley City Council did vote to hold a workshop to discuss possibly signing a new flock contract. If changes are made the same night, the central texas city of Pflugerville voted to end its flock contract. Earlier this month, Hood County law enforcement covered and unplugged flock cameras used by the county being able to track wherever we go and not only with license plates, but it makes like an A. I. Fingerprint of your car so it can identify the bumper stickers, a dent on the side, that kind of stuff. And then it puts in this giant database that is nationwide. Wiley's flock contract will go through October 13th. The cameras will be up and running through then, but afterwards not so much, at least for the time being until they could possibly vote on a new contract with those changes. They pay right now $27,000 a year for those flock cameras. There will be no termination fee, according to the city.