TribCast: The Flock camera freakout

By Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune
August 4, 2026

 

Police departments across the country are installing Flock cameras, advanced license plate readers that allow police to track the movements of cars and rapidly search nationwide databases without a warrant.

The backlash is mounting, as stories emerge about law enforcement abusing the tracking data and misidentifying people based on faulty information. U.S. Rep. Keith Self, a McKinney Republican, has filed a bill to require federal agencies to get warrants before accessing Flock camera data.

To discuss the sudden attention on Flock cameras, TribCast is joined by Waco Bridge reporter Sam Shaw and Dave Maass with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy advocacy group.

Watch the video above or subscribe to the TribCast on iTunes, Spotify, or RSS. New episodes every Tuesday.

Disclosure: Electronic Frontier Foundation and Spotify have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in The Texas Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.