Bee Cave Council examines Flock camera data sharing rules after regional contract exits
City staff will review how neighboring Texas municipalities handle license plate reader access as local officials debate privacy safeguards.
By Ella Cox ·
Bee Cave City Council members are scrutinizing the city’s data-sharing protocols for Flock Safety cameras following a wave of contract terminations by nearby Texas communities.
During a Nov. 10 meeting, Ian Leslie, public affairs manager for Flock Safety, explained that the company’s Automatic License Plate Readers use artificial intelligence to tag vehicle images with data points such as license plate numbers, make, model, color, and distinguishing physical features like dents or bumper stickers.
Bee Cave began its partnership with Flock in 2022, installing two cameras at the entrance and exit of Bee Cave Central Park to help deter and prosecute car burglary suspects. Police Chief William Pitmon stated that the city’s policy restricts data use to official purposes and limits sharing to legitimate law enforcement needs. Officers must verify that any search is tied to a specific case number before accessing the records.
While the city owns only two Flock devices, the total number of cameras operating within city limits reaches 24 when including units owned by independent businesses and homeowners associations. Each entity controls who receives its data, according to Leslie. The Bee Cave Police Department shares its network with bona fide police departments in Texas that reciprocate data sharing, as well as with federal agencies.
Council member Kit Crumbley expressed satisfaction with the local police department’s oversight but raised concerns about the practices of other agencies in the state. She cited reports of data being used for personal reasons, including stalking, and questioned how many other entities have access to the information.
Mayor Kara King addressed privacy concerns by noting that personal security devices like Ring cameras already capture neighborhood activity. She argued that residents are already visible to private systems and that Flock cameras provided a valuable tool in a recent incident that helped locate a kidnapping victim across state lines. King stated that if her daughter were taken, she would want every available tool to secure her return.
Residents offered mixed perspectives at the meeting. John Wickens, a local resident, said he feels safer with the cameras in place and supported keeping them. He suggested that some public concerns were conflated with other issues. No residents spoke in opposition to the system during the session.
The council took no immediate action on the cameras' status but directed city staff to investigate the data-sharing policies of neighboring cities. Austin, Bastrop, Leander, Liberty Hill, and Pflugerville have all ended their Flock contracts in recent months.
