Georgetown council approves Flock license-plate reader deployment after privacy Q&A

The council moved to approve item 5L after a detailed presentation on Flock license‑plate reader (LPR) cameras and follow-up questions from council members. A city presenter addressed how Flock’s fixed cameras detect license plates and vehicle features (color, make, type), automatically compare plates to national and state crime databases and provide realtime alerts to officers and dispatch when a match is found. The presenter said the system does not use facial recognition and described a default data-retention period of 30 days (with exceptions when data must be preserved for investigations or prosecutions).

The presenter emphasized that captured data is owned by the customer and that agencies decide with whom to share data; he described a transparency portal showing policies, retention, camera counts and usage statistics. He recounted several success stories in which LPR data aided investigations — including homicide and stolen-vehicle leads — and said the city initially plans 10 fixed cameras in strategic, high-traffic locations. The presenter also noted that cameras would not be deployed on TxDOT roadways at this time.

Several council members raised privacy and open-records questions. One councilmember said he had privacy concerns about potential future access by larger agencies or federal partners, even while noting confidence in local controls. Staff said queries are auditable, the system requires entry of a case number and reason for a search to create an audit trail, and that public‑records requests would be handled with privacy protections and legal review.

After the presentation and Q&A the council voted to approve item 5L. The public record in the transcript does not include a detailed contract amount or a roll‑call vote with named tallies in the audio; the presenter indicated the deployment would start with 10 fixed cameras and that retention is typically 30 days.