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Police outline ALPR/FLOP camera use, audits and privacy safeguards after public concern
Summary
Universal City Police described how automatic license-plate reader (ALPR) cameras (FLOP system) are used, audit controls and case examples, and answered resident questions about oversight and data sharing.
At the council meeting, the Universal City Police Department presented details about its ALPR camera program (referred to in the meeting as the FLOP system) and explained the system’s operational rules, audit controls and examples where the cameras aided investigations.
The department said it has installed 12 fixed ALPR cameras at points of entry and in higher-crime areas; the system is used in three ways: alerts (for stolen vehicles, AMBER alerts, or vehicles entered by the Texas Criminal Information Center), case-based searches (which must include a case number), and agency hot lists (entered by administrators for a known suspect vehicle). The chief emphasized there is no routine live monitoring of feeds: “There’s no live monitoring. We don’t — you can’t even see a live monitor,” he said.
Police described audit and transparency measures: searches must include a case number recorded in the system, and the city publishes a transparency portal with counts of photos, alerts and searches. The department showed figures from the portal and said the number of searches is a small fraction of overall captures (the portal counted hundreds of thousands of photos and tens of searches in the recent window).
The department gave case examples where ALPR hits led to arrests, including a robbery suspect located the same day an alert was entered and a counterfeiting/credit-card-fraud ring located through vehicle identification. The chief said the system returns vehicle images (rear views and license plates) and does not itself produce or store registered-owner data; police obtain registration details separately when relevant to an investigation.
Residents and council members asked privacy and oversight questions: who can run searches, whether hot lists can be created by patrol-level officers, and with which outside agencies data is shared. The department said any officer can conduct a search but must include a case number; creating a hot list is restricted to an administrator (sergeant or detective). The department noted the strength of the network comes when agencies share hot lists regionally; staff said access is controlled so remote agencies do not automatically see every Universal City hot list.
Council members requested staff examine whether the pool of officers permitted to run searches should be narrowed; police said they would consider limiting administrative capabilities and maintain monthly cyber training and auditing. The police chief and staff also described transparency and accountability tools available to the public via the city’s online portal.
