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Denton County Sheriff | Flock Safety plate readers

A 2021 agreement let the Sheriff's Office search Flock's network at no cost. In September and October 2024 the Commissioners Court approved nine Flock cameras on county property, five on light poles around the Sheriff's Office and jail and four more on county poles, with platform fees of $27,000 a year.

At a glance

Database access
7 December 2021: a memorandum of understanding "for investigative purposes", no financial impact, 5-0 [1] [2]
Cameras on county property, Phase 1
10 September 2024, 5-0. The site plan lists five cameras on existing light poles at the Sheriff's Office and jail complex on Woodrow Lane and Troy H Lagrone Drive. The memo says three poles [3] [4] [5]
Phase 2
29 October 2024: four more cameras on four existing county poles, 5-0 [6] [7] [8]
The cost
$15,750 and $12,600 in the first year; $15,000 and $12,000 a year after that on the two order forms [5] [8]
How long images are kept
30 days, on both order forms [5] [8]
Where the Phase 2 cameras are
Not stated in any document attached to the item [7] [8]
Whose cameras the office can search
The 2021 memo says agencies and homeowners associations in the county use Flock cameras. It does not name them [2]

How it happened

  1. Decision

    The Sheriff's Office joins Flock's network

    The Court approves a memorandum of understanding between Flock and the Sheriff's Office, 5-0, Court Order 21-01032. The memo says the office will not buy cameras, "only accessing the Flock database". [1] [2]

  2. Procurement

    Flock cameras on county poles

    The Court approves a master services agreement, 5-0, Court Order 24-0780. The Phase 1 site plan places five cameras on light poles around the Sheriff's Office and jail. [3] [4] [5]

  3. Expansion

    Four more cameras

    The Court approves an additional services agreement, 5-0, Court Order 24-0968: four cameras, $12,600.00 in the first year. [6] [7] [8]

Flock Safety sells plate reader cameras on a subscription. Each camera photographs passing vehicles and records the plate and the vehicle’s appearance, and the images go to Flock’s cloud, where agencies with access can search them. Denton County’s Sheriff’s Office has used Flock in two ways: searching other people’s cameras from 2021, and hosting cameras of its own on county property from 2024.

Searching the network

On 7 December 2021 the Commissioners Court approved a memorandum of understanding between Flock Group, Inc. and the Sheriff’s Office “for investigative purposes”, 5-0.[1] The memo attached to it says the platform “will allow the DCSO to search for vehicles by type, make, color, license plate, temporary plates, license plate state, and more”. It says “There are several agencies and Home Owners Associations across the Country, more specifically within Denton County, Texas, who use the Flock stationary cameras”, and that the office “will not be purchasing any Flock cameras, only accessing the Flock database in order to see locations where a vehicle and/or vehicle license plate has been scanned by a Flock camera”. It lists no financial impact.[2]

Volunteers have mapped 593 devices in Denton County that record Flock Safety as the manufacturer. The memo does not say which of those cameras the office could search.

Cameras on county poles

On 10 September 2024 the Court approved a master services agreement between Flock and the Sheriff’s Office, 5-0.[3] Its memo describes “the use and installation of Flock cameras and their hardware on three existing poles located on Denton County property”, with “an implementation and safety platform fee of $15,750.00”.[4]

The site plan attached to the same item lists five cameras, not three, each on an “Existing Light Pole”: two at the Woodrow Lane entrance, two on Troy H Lagrone Drive at the county’s enforcement center, and one named “Inmate Release Denton County”.[5] The order form, a scan, lists five Falcon cameras, a first-year total of $15,750 and an annual recurring charge of $15,000.[9]

On 29 October 2024 the Court approved an additional services agreement, 5-0.[6] Its memo describes “an additional four (4) Flock cameras and their hardware on four (4) existing poles located on Denton County property”.[7] The order form prices the “Flock Safety Platform” at $12,000.00 a year with four Falcon cameras included, and a “Retention Period: 30 Days”. It describes the Falcon as a “license plate recognition camera with Vehicle Fingerprint TM technology (proprietary machine learning software) and real-time alerts for unlimited users”.[8]

Both memos say the office “will not be purchasing any Flock cameras”. Under both order forms the county pays a yearly platform fee and Flock supplies the cameras.[4][8]

What the record does not say

No document attached to the October 2024 item says where its four cameras are. None of the three items says which other agencies can search the office’s cameras, or whose cameras the office can search. The only plate reader policy attached to any item we read is a 2018 Lexipol policy attached in 2020 to a Vigilant agreement; see in-car plate readers.

On the map

The community has mapped 639 devices of this type in the county on OpenStreetMap. These are community reports: the vendor and operator of each point are unverified, and none is confirmed to belong to this system. See them on the map →

Street names from reverse geocoding — © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

What we do not know

What you can do

Show up

Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have confirmed where each of them meets in Denton County and how public comment works there.

How to show up in Denton County →

Protect yourself

Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.

Surveillance Self-Defense →

Sources

  1. 1.
    Denton County Commissioners Court, minutes, 7 December 2021, item 12.A (Sheriff), Court Order 21-01032 · Meeting record · · accessed
  2. 2.
    Agenda placement memorandum, Flock memorandum of understanding, attached to item 12.A, 7 December 2021 · Primary document · · accessed
  3. 3.
    Denton County Commissioners Court, minutes, 10 September 2024, item 12.A (Sheriff), Court Order 24-0780 · Meeting record · · accessed
  4. 4.
    Agenda placement memorandum, Flock master services agreement, attached to item 12.A, 10 September 2024 · Primary document · · accessed
  5. 5.
    "TX - Denton County SO_Phase 1" license plate reader camera installation site plan, and the Flock order form (a scan), attached to item 12.A, 10 September 2024 · Primary document · · accessed
  6. 6.
    Denton County Commissioners Court, minutes, 29 October 2024, item 12.B (Sheriff), Court Order 24-0968 · Meeting record · · accessed
  7. 7.
    Agenda placement memorandum, Flock Phase 2 additional services agreement, attached to item 12.B, 29 October 2024 · Primary document · · accessed
  8. 8.
    Flock Safety order form, TX - Denton County SO, four Falcon cameras, attached to item 12.B, 29 October 2024 · Primary document · · accessed
  9. 9.
    Flock Safety order form, TX - Denton County SO, five Falcon cameras (a scan), attached to item 12.A, 10 September 2024 · Primary document · · accessed

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