Residents press Keller council on ALPR camera practices and Water Smart data privacy

Two residents used the public-comment period on April 7 to press Keller officials on surveillance and data-privacy matters.

A commenter raised concerns about the city’s Flock automated license-plate recognition system, citing a discrepancy between the number of cameras the city’s portal reports and the commenter’s count, a high number of vehicle detections, and published reports alleging some Flock camera feeds have been exposed or misconfigured. The commenter asserted that images beyond license plates had been retained and said recent contract-term changes weakened earlier assurances about data ownership and use. “It’s time to turn these cameras off,” the commenter said, urging the council to cancel the Flock contract and to investigate possible federal access and third-party uses.

The council suggested the commenter coordinate directly with the police chief to allow staff to respond in detail; the chief was present in the chambers and staff offered to follow up.

A second resident, Faye, complained about the city’s Water Smart third-party billing platform rollout and asked what data are shared with the vendor, how much outreach and education residents received, and what protections are in place for address-linked usage data. City staff referred her to the utility manager responsible for billing and the communications director for follow-up and outreach coordination.

Council did not take formal action but asked staff to coordinate with the chief and utility staff to provide more information to the speaker and the public.