Texas constable shuts down 3 Flock cameras after county ends contract, tells firm ‘get your garbage’

Representative Image (Canva) A Texas county has taken a visible step back from automated license plate surveillance after officials ended a contract with Flock Safety, a company whose cameras have become part of a growing national debate over public safety and privacy. In Hood County, Precinct 2 Constable John Shirley was asked to disable three Flock cameras following the county commissioners' decision to end its agreement with the company. Shirley unplugged and covered the devices, later telling Flock to “come get your garbage out of my county,” according to a Facebook post shared by him. The move comes amid growing debate in Texas and elsewhere over whether automated license plate readers provide valuable investigative tools or enable widespread tracking that warrants greater oversight.County ends Flock contractThe situation began when the Hood County Commissioners Court voted in April to end its contract with Flock Safety.In July, commissioners directed the county attorney to address what they described as Flock Safety's failure to perform under the contract and sought a $126,000 refund, according to KERA News.The commissioners later addressed what should happen to the equipment...