Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is pushing for a special public meeting on the county's Flock Safety license plate reader cameras. She also wants the program paused until privacy safeguards are written into the contract.

Hidalgo laid out her case in a Substack post published Saturday, Sept. 5. She criticized the four commissioners who renewed the county's $868,975 Flock contract on May 28 without adding oversight provisions they had promised. The renewal, which covers June 6, 2026, through June 5, 2027, passed 4-0. Hidalgo abstained.

The cameras are a local issue. Nassau Bay operates 13 Flock cameras of its own, and the Harris County Sheriff's Office patrols unincorporated neighborhoods near Friendswood and Webster with access to a 480-camera network, as we reported Aug. 10.

"The members who forced the item through owe the public answers to these questions," Hidalgo wrote in the post.

She outlined three steps: produce a clear summary of all county license plate reader contracts, hold a public discussion with privacy experts and residents, and stop the program until oversight provisions are added. She said discussions about Flock are happening behind closed doors among agencies and should instead be conducted in public.

Hidalgo did not detail how a pause would work, the Houston Chronicle reported. The Chronicle also reported that Commissioners Rodney Ellis, Adrian Garcia, Tom Ramsey and Lesley Briones could not immediately be reached for comment on the special meeting call.

In an Aug. 24 Houston Public Media report, Ellis said he shared residents' concerns and that his office was working on "a path forward." Garcia, a former sheriff, defended the system at a business court meeting, saying he had "great confidence" the tool benefits the community.

The push for oversight follows deputy suspensions and a criminal charge tied to the system. HCSO suspended three deputies' access to Flock on Aug. 14 and launched administrative reviews after questions about potentially improper searches, as we reported Aug. 17. The sheriff's office then added an auditing tool that flags suspicious search activity and a requirement that deputies log a reason for every plate search.

Houston police are also investigating certain officers' use of the system for potential policy violations, Click2Houston reported. Former Katy police officer Sergio Rodriguez was charged with stalking and misuse of official information after allegedly using Flock to track his ex-wife, according to the same report.

Hidalgo said the contract was approved without privacy parameters and that those provisions still have not been added. HCSO has used Flock technology since 2022 and manages 20 license plate reader networks across the county.

No date has been set for the special meeting. Residents can track the Harris County Commissioners Court agenda at harriscountytx.gov.