The El Paso Police Department has abruptly ended the use of the controversial Flock automated license plate readers citywide – for now – following a gubernatorial order that all state agencies pause funding for the cameras.
“Following the recent order by Governor Greg Abbott prohibiting state funding for Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) the El Paso Police Department has halted the use of state-funded ALPR devices,” El Paso Police Chief Peter Pacillas said in an Instagram post published Thursday morning.
The immediate end to the use of the state grant-funded cameras in El Paso does not mean the equipment will be immediately taken down, or that the El Paso police may not seek other funding to restart the program, El Paso Police Department spokesman Officer Adrian Cisneros told El Paso Matters in emailed responses Thursday.
“The Department continues to speak with City leadership to explore options to continue our public safety efforts,” Cisneros said when asked if the department would seek new funding.
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Cisneros said the cameras belong to the vendor under a lease agreement and “the vendor decides what to do with them.”
Pacillas said in the Instagram post that EPPD “has always operated this technology under strict oversight, limited access, and rigorous privacy safeguards. Restricting these devices shifts our work back to manual investigative methods, impacting overall response times.”
Flock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The use of Flock cameras has been under scrutiny as other municipalities in Oregon, California, Arizona and Massachusetts have cut ties with the company over concerns that it is sharing the data with other agencies, including federal immigration authorities.
The El Paso police entered a contract with the Georgia-based Flock Group Inc., operating as Flock Safety, to install about 150 cameras starting last summer. The Police Department received $702,500 through the state’s Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority grant for 150 Flock LPR Cameras for its auto theft task force. The contract with Flock started May 16, 2025.
LEARN MORE: Gov. Abbott blocks state agencies from spending money on Flock cameras
Abbott gave the order to pause state funding for the Flock readers Aug. 27 – a day before the Texas Tribune was set to publish an investigation detailing how the state Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority enabled state and local law enforcement agencies to install at least 3,200 cameras since 2023. Grant funding came from a 2023 law that added a $1 fee to Texas auto-insurance policies to combat catalytic converter thefts, according to the Texas Tribune.
The authority is led by a board appointed by Abbott, who is seeking a fourth term in office and is facing Democratic candidate Gina Hinojosa in the Nov. 3 general election.
The Texas Tribune found that about 1,200 of the cameras were being installed by the Department of Public Safety under a three-year, $15.9 million contract with the authority.
Abbott’s press secretary pointed to the misuse of cameras by law enforcement as the reason for the governor’s order. He didn’t address the Tribune’s report or the insurance fee used to subsidize the funding.
“There is a crackdown across Texas. In Lufkin, a police officer was indicted on 100 felony charges for misuse of Flock information. Other criminal investigations are underway in other communities,” Andrew Mahaleris said in an emailed statement to El Paso Matters Thursday.
Mahaleris said the majority of Flock cameras in the state are used by cities and contracts are increasingly being canceled.
“To the extent that cities get any funding for those cameras, most of it comes from the federal government. To the extent any funding comes from Texas agencies, those agencies are clarifying that those funds cannot be used for Flock cameras,” he said.
An effort led by city Rep. Chris Canales in March to allow the contract with Flock Safety to expire failed by a 6-2 vote.
Canales posted on his Instagram account late Wednesday that he was notified that the department ended the use of the cameras based on the funding halt.
“Flock has time and time again shown itself to be untrustworthy as a company, with its system prone to misuse and abuse,” Canales said. “I’m glad the experiment is over.”
The post El Paso police abruptly halt Flock camera program after Abbott pauses funding as scrutiny grows appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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