Carrollton City Council is set to vote today on whether to renew and expand its license plate reader camera program, a consent-agenda item that would consolidate four existing police contracts into a single three-year deal covering 82 Flock Safety cameras. The proposal carries a proposed annual cost ceiling of $398,258.34 and an overall contract total of $1,194,775.02.
The vote, listed as Agenda Item 13 on Tuesday’s meeting agenda, arrives as FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth reports the cameras remain a subject of public debate and privacy concerns in Carrollton. According to the Texas Privacy Coalition, city staff have noted the consolidation excludes Carrollton’s separately grant-funded drone initiative, keeping the vote focused strictly on ground-based license plate tracking.
A 16-Year Build-Up To 82 Cameras
Carrollton’s surveillance footprint didn’t happen overnight. The city first purchased automated license plate reader technology in September 2010 using a $335,000 federal grant, then approved Vigilant Solutions equipment and entered a $276,400 five-year agreement with Flock Safety in the same January 2017 meeting, before renewing the Vigilant contract in January 2024, according to the Branch Herald. By August 2025, the network had grown to 67 active Flock cameras, up from an earlier 19-camera setup that a city council resolution had deemed insufficient to cover the 37-square-mile city.
Much of that expansion was paid for through Texas Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority grants, created under a 2023 state law that tacked a $1 fee onto auto insurance policies statewide. That surcharge, originally intended to combat catalytic converter theft, has generated more than $30 million for local law enforcement ALPR systems, per reporting cited in prior Hoodline coverage. The funding pipeline, however, is no longer flowing freely.
State Funding Freeze Complicates The Picture
In late August, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered a pause on state grant funding that local police departments use for Flock Safety systems, a response to mounting public privacy complaints and regulatory reviews, the Dallas Observer reports. The freeze has already forced large departments, including Dallas police, to prepare to remove hundreds of grant-funded cameras from service, putting Carrollton’s own expansion plans in a tighter financial spotlight…