HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Flock cameras, which read license plates and alert police if they’re connected to any crimes, have been in use in the City of Houston since 2021, according to the Georgia-based company.
It’s a technology that’s been referred to as “game-changing” by multiple city officials.
“My car was stolen and was found because of a license-plate reader,” said District A Councilwoman Amy Peck. “More importantly, we’ve had murder suspects caught in District A because of these cameras.”
Peck is chair of the city council’s public safety committee, which met this morning and received a report from a Flock representative.
“It’s been wonderful to see all the success (police) have had using our technology,” said Hector Soliman-Valdez of Flock Safety.
District B Councilwoman Tarsha Jackson, who is the vice-chair of the committee, told Soliman-Valdez she hasn’t heard of any successes in her district to this point.
“I haven’t received any success stories,” said Jackson.
Jackson said they just bought five cameras to help monitor illegal dumping. Her chief of staff said those cost around $50,000.
Peck said her district has around 50 of the cameras, but didn’t provide a figure on how much they cost. She said they’re hoping to add more of them to District A in the future.
ABC13 asked the Houston Police Department if they could give us a number on how many cameras they currently use. We also asked how many crimes they’ve been able to solve as a result of the technology.
A spokesperson from the department told us to submit an open records request for that information.
It was just last year that then-Acting Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite said the city had access to around 3,500 of the cameras. He said at the time that the City of Houston was likely the country’s leading user of the technology.
“It definitely seems very intense in terms of surveillance,” said Houstonian Genesis Rojas. “Especially in today’s climate.”
Houstonian Alfredo Figueroa had the opposite opinion.
“I think the more cameras the better,” he said.
Jackson said she wished today’s presentation from Flock gave specific stories on how the technology has been effective in Houston.
The presentation stated that HPD has recovered more than $7 million in stolen vehicles; however, specific stories about cases that successfully used the technology came from Illinois, Georgia, and California.
Soliman-Valdez said it’s up to HPD to share those stories with the company.
ABC13 asked the police department if they could give us a specific local example, but a department spokesperson referred us back to Flock.
“That’s an issue,” said Jackson. “If you’re able to let us know about the success stories in other cities, why can’t you let us know about the successes happening here?”
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