Breckenridge Texan

Sheriff Roach says county cannot afford the cameras without grant funding

Stephens County Sheriff Kevin Roach has canceled plans to install Flock automated license plate reader cameras after a state funding pause halted the permitting process and threatened to push the project past the expiration date for the grant he planned to use for the local installation.

Roach said Friday, Sept. 25, that Gov. Greg Abbott had ordered a halt to state funding for automated license plate readers, including Flock cameras, causing the Texas Department of Transportation to stop its permitting process required for the installation of the cameras.

According to an article in the Texas Tribune, Abbot blocked state funding for the cameras last month. This month, at the governor’s direction, TxDOT stopped issuing permits that allowed the  automated license plate readers to be installed along state roads.

“Governor Abbott ordered a halt to all state funding for license plate readers, and that includes Flock,” Roach said. “You know, Flock is just a company that sells them. … because of that halt from the governor, TxDOT stopped their process because they can’t spend any money on any of it because of the governor’s order.”

Roach said the grant Stephens County received is for the fiscal year 2027 and that the project was expected to require about eight months for permitting before installation could begin.

“Well, that grant I have is for fiscal year ’27 only, and because the timeline is paused, I don’t anticipate — and Flock doesn’t either — that they would finish the permitting processes and get the cameras installed in fiscal year ’27 as projected,” the sheriff said. “It’s going to push us into ’28, and then the grant would have expired.”

Because the county could not afford the cameras without grant funding, Roach said he will exercise a non-appropriations clause in the agreement and cancel the project.

“So, anticipating that, because the county cannot afford those without a grant…I exercise our non-appropriations clause in our agreement, and we’re backing out of the contract, so it’s basically stopping it all,” Roach said, adding that the county could pursue the project again if funding becomes available.

“If we choose to move forward, we’ll have to reapply for another grant and move forward in the future,” he said. “But I’m not even going to do any of that until the governor either releases the pause, or if he makes a different decision, that would affect the outcome as well.”

Roach later described the decision more simply: “Basically…we pulled the plug on the project.”

He said the Texas Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority had awarded Stephens County the grant for the license plate readers.

Roach said he was disappointed by the cancellation because he believes license plate readers can be useful to law enforcement when properly used.

“Well, I’m obviously I’m a little disappointed because I believe in the cameras used appropriately,” he said. “I think they’re a very valuable tool for law enforcement.”

Roach also addressed concerns about privacy and the use of license plate reader technology. He said the cameras take photographs of vehicles from the rear and are intended to assist law enforcement.

“Flock cameras, or I say Flock license plate readers, they are simply taking a photo of a vehicle, and it’s from the back, and it is to assist law enforcement,” Roach said.

He also said license plate reader alerts must be verified by officers before action is taken.

“And it’s in the agreements that an officer has to verify the alert themselves before they can act,” Roach said. “So even if, just say, we had a camera downtown and it went off (indicating) that a stolen vehicle went in front of it, we’re going to pull up and we’re going to run it ourselves to verify that’s the right vehicle, you know, because technology is not 100 percent, and there could be errors.”

The Stephens County Commissioners originally approved Roach’s request to apply for the grant in March of this year. Earlier this month, they authorized Roach to enter into a multiple-use agreement with TxDOT, allowing the installation and operation of automated license plate reader (aka Flock) cameras in the TxDOT right away. Several days after that meeting, it was announced that TxDOT would no longer be issuing the permits for the installations.

According to the Texas Tribune article, “There were an estimated 13,000 Flock cameras across Texas in August, but hundreds of the devices have been shut down after Abbott’s funding freeze. City councils and county commissions across the state have also been unplugging their cameras in response to pressure from residents who cite privacy concerns and a growing number of police who were arrested or investigated for misusing Flock cameras to stalk people.”

Cutline, top photo: At the Sept. 14 county commissioners meeting, Stephens County Sheriff Kevin Roach talks to the county commissioners about the automated license plate readers he had planned to install around the county. He has since decided to pull the plug on the project since Gov. Greg Abbott blocked funding for the cameras and has stopped TxDOT from issuing permits allowing them to be installed along state highways. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)