Source reporting: Dallas Express
The Dallas Police Department has reduced outside access to the city’s Flock license-plate-reader data from more than 1,500 agencies to 202 agencies located in Texas, Dallas Express reported. Department officials also told the City Council’s Public Safety Committee that Dallas has stopped sharing the data with federal law-enforcement partners.
The change narrows the geographic reach of the information but does not end Dallas’ use of automated license plate readers. The department currently operates more than 600 cameras. Of those, 321 state-funded cameras are scheduled for cancellation September 15 after Texas halted funding for the technology. More than 300 other cameras are expected to remain active.
Dallas retains Flock records for 365 days, according to the report. Nearly 2,000 police officers and city employees have approved access to the system, although department officials said searches must be associated with a case number. Committee members questioned whether access should be limited further and whether the one-year retention period should be shortened.
Police officials say the system assists investigations involving stolen vehicles, robberies, assaults, missing people and homicide suspects. Department data identified Flock information as a factor in 12 Dallas homicide cases during 2026 through August 24, compared with 15 during all of 2025. Those figures reflect the department’s accounting and do not establish that the technology alone solved the cases.
Flock Safety representatives told city officials that individual agencies control their own information and choose which partners may access it. The company also said it is developing auditing tools intended to detect unusual searches. Those statements represent the company’s description of its system and planned safeguards.
The City Council recently rejected a proposal to remove $1.5 million in municipal funding for the remaining cameras. As a result, the current policy dispute concerns the program’s scope, access and retention rules rather than a full shutdown.
The public-integrity significance is substantial because license-plate records can reveal when and where vehicles were observed, while broad sharing can place local data in the hands of agencies far outside Dallas. Limiting access to Texas agencies and ending federal sharing reduces the network, but questions remain about the nearly 2,000 approved users, yearlong retention and oversight of searches.
Useful continuing disclosure would include access audits, misuse investigations, retention changes and documented investigative outcomes. That information would allow the public to evaluate both law-enforcement claims and privacy risks as Dallas decides the program’s future.