July 14, 2026

By Mary Beth Gahan

Yes, there are Flock cameras in Flower Mound. No, they aren’t maintained by the Town of Flower Mound.

Mayor Pro Tem Adam Schiestel posted on his Facebook page after receiving emails about automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) that are visible in certain parts of town.

Flock Safety Camera Systems are solar-powered cameras that are installed on a pole and capture the rear image of a car as well as its license plate. The information is put into a searchable database that can be used by police departments or other organizations in case of a crime.

The Flower Mound Police Department planned to install Flock cameras at five locations in town in May of 2023 for $133,750, but the town council tabled the proposed contract with Flock Group, Inc. and the town never moved forward with purchasing the ALPRs.

Flock cameras in Flower Mound today are owned by HOAs and commercial property owners, not the town, Schiestel wrote. Communications Director Melissa Demmitt confirmed that Flower Mound has not installed any Flock cameras.

The locations show up on deflock.org, a website that maps license plate readers across the country.

There are several in Highlands Plaza on the southwest corner of Justin Road and Long Prairie Road, several in the River Walk area, and one in a shopping center south of Justin Road and west of Morriss Road.

Two cameras were recently removed after they were installed in public right-of-way without authorization, according to Schiestel. A resident emailed him about a camera that was on a town’s utility pole. Schiestel contacted town staff and they found that an HOA had installed the camera without permission. While looking around, they found another camera had been installed on a pole owned by the town. Both were removed.

Flock cameras have come under increased public scrutiny in recent months because of privacy concerns.

On Saturday, the Los Angeles Police Department suspended its use of Flock cameras. At least 30 other cities have deactived cameras or ended their contracts with the company, according to a February report from NPR.

Nearby cities that use automatic license plate readers include Bartonville, Trophy Club, and Lewisville. The system can give real-time updates to officers if a vehicle, like one listed on an Amber Alert, enters the town, according to Bartonville.

Schiestel said he is opposed to the use of public funds to install Flock cameras, or any stationary license plate readers.

“I also have significant concerns about Flock Safety's data collection, retention, sharing, and governance practices, including the contractual ability of the company to use aggregated data for other purposes,” he wrote.

Schiestel said he wasn’t against the use of license plate readers mounted on police vehicles.

“Those systems capture information only where an officer is present at a particular moment and cannot be used to create the same long-term record of residents' daily movements that a network of fixed cameras can,” he wrote. “This is a reasonable use of technology that mitigates the civil liberty concerns.”