The city of Austin, Texas, canceled its contract with Flock Safety last June after residents complained about the presence of 40 of the company’s surveillance cameras. But that hasn’t stopped the city’s police department from accessing data about Austin-area residents obtained by Flock license plate reader cameras in neighboring jurisdictions.
An investigation by KUT News found that the Austin Police Department, in the last month, has obtained information collected by cameras in the nearby cities of Round Rock and Sunset Valley.
The police departments in both cities contract with Flock Safety, which operates more than 80,000 cameras for law enforcement and private companies across the country. The cameras use artificial intelligence to capture license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions, data that can be used to track an individual’s movements…