The 30 Flock surveillance cameras the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office operates in The Woodlands remain active as a statewide fight over the technology reshapes which agencies keep theirs.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said it will maintain its own network of at least 940 Flock cameras on state roads despite Gov. Greg Abbott's Thursday, Aug. 27, order blocking state agencies from spending money on the devices. DPS will pause installing new cameras but plans to keep the existing ones running for what it called "legitimate public safety efforts," Houston Public Media reported Sept. 4.
DPS did not respond to questions about how it will fund the cameras long term without state dollars.
Data access now restricted
A Texas Tribune review of roughly 615,000 searches of the DPS Flock network in June found the system was accessed once every four seconds on average. Nearly half of those queries came from outside Texas, and 3,075 law enforcement agencies conducted searches. Only 396 were Texas agencies.
Houston Police accounted for 13% of searches.
DPS officers accounted for just under 9%.
After the Tribune asked why more than 2,800 agencies had searched the network without signed data-sharing agreements, DPS announced Sept. 4 that it will restrict access to agencies with agreements in place. In July, only 206 Texas law enforcement departments had such agreements.
More than 58,000 of the June searches were listed for "traffic infractions." Another 111 cited immigration-related reasons, including "ICE deportation warrant."
Local cameras stay for now
The Woodlands Township Board voted 6-0 on May 28 to accept an MCSO report on the cameras, Community Impact reported. The township's fiscal year 2026 budget included $109,500 to purchase the 30 cameras, with an estimated $90,000 annual cost going forward.
MCSO owns the cameras and is the only agency with access to the data they collect. The township cannot operate or view the information.
Rhyan Droddy, command captain for MCSO South Patrol, told the board in May that stolen vehicle alerts are a key use. "If your vehicle is stolen, as soon as the police report is made, we enter the vehicle in the Texas Crime Information Center, and it is uploaded into the National Crime Information Center database," Droddy said. "If it hits Flock, Flock will check it against the records and it'll flag us."
Whether MCSO has a signed data-sharing agreement with DPS for the state network is unclear. MCSO has not publicly addressed how Abbott's order affects its local cameras.
Neighboring cities pulling back
Not every agency is holding on. Magnolia Police Chief Kyle Montgomery decided not to renew his department's Flock contract when it expires in October, citing privacy concerns, Click2Houston reported. Oak Ridge North is also dropping its cameras when the contract expires Oct. 1, after a grant of about $20,000 that funded them runs out.
El Paso announced Sept. 4 that it will shut down 150 Flock cameras funded by state grants. Dallas police said Sept. 2 they will disconnect 321 state-funded cameras.
Abbott's order followed Texas Tribune reporting that the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority (MVCPA) had tapped at least $30 million from a fund dedicated to catalytic converter theft to help pay for more than 3,200 Flock cameras statewide. The MVCPA signed a $15.9 million contract with DPS in early 2025 for nearly 1,200 cameras and approved an additional $3 million in August for 583 cameras on seven toll roads.
The authority has not released guidance on how its grants are affected. Its next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 13.
