Austin police are still using license plate reader technology months after the Austin City Council ended the city's program over privacy concerns.
A KUT investigation found the Austin Police Department accessed data from Flock Safety license plate readers maintained by neighboring law enforcement agencies within the last month. The access skirts the city's push to end the firm’s presence in Austin — and highlights a gap in Austin’s policies on surveillance technology.
The cameras scan license plates at intersections and allow police to search a database for certain criminal activity, like stolen cars or arrest warrants tied to certain vehicles.
Austin ended its contract with Flock last June after pushback from residents who said the surveillance can be shared with immigration enforcement and that the system can be used as a dragnet that leads to wrongful arrests.
While APD no longer has the license plate reading cameras on city roads, it does have access to cameras maintained by at least two neighboring agencies: Round Rock and Sunset Valley police. Both agencies listed APD under the departments they had shared data with in the last 30 days. APD confirmed to KUT that it has access to Flock data from other departments, but said it only requests it in emergencies.
"There may be situations where APD requests assistance from peer law enforcement agencies, such as during a joint investigation or when additional information is needed for investigative purposes," APD said. "These partnerships ensure the safety and well-being of our Austin community."
APD did not say whether it had accessed data from any other departments' license plate readers, including the Texas Department of Public Safety, which recently installed Flock cameras near its headquarters off North Lamar Boulevard.
Council Member Mike Siegel said the department's ability to access Flock's system is a "major gap" that goes against guardrails set up by the Austin City Council in 2023 that required city oversight and reports to city management when APD still had an active contract with Flock.
Last week, Council expanded on those protections with a sweeping surveillance measure called the Transparent and Responsible Use of Technology (TRUST) Act.
"Although use of other agencies [license plate reader] systems has not been specifically regulated by Council, we've made clear that we believe Flock systems pose an unacceptable risk to the liberty and privacy of our constituents," he told KUT.
The TRUST Act requires police to submit a formal policy and publicly disclose the use of surveillance technology — even in emergencies.
After KUT asked about its data-sharing with other departments, APD said it was "evaluating its previous policy regarding use of [license plate reader] camera data" and that it was working "to ensure alignment" with the TRUST Act.
Mackenzie Rhine, an attorney and member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Austin chapter, was one of dozens of Austinites who spoke out against the cameras at City Hall last year. She said the department's access to Flock is "awful, but I'm not shocked."
"The police chief showed up to these meetings and talked about how much they value privacy and how much they respected our privacy, but it's clear they don't," Rhine said. "They simply don't care about our privacy."
Rhine said she does think the city is moving toward stricter regulation on surveillance technology with the TRUST Act, which she largely supports. She thinks the expanded reporting requirements for surveillance tech could ensure responsible, transparent use by APD, making it less of a "wild west."
Siegel said the department's access to the license plate reader data would violate the TRUST Act, but that he hopes City Council will shore up the loophole to Flock access in the coming weeks as it finalizes the measure.
"I think it's a violation of the intent of council policy," he said. "And that's where we have an opportunity to clean this up in a few weeks before we finalize the TRUST Act ... to make sure this will be covered as well."
