Pearland Cameras Stay Up, but State Blocks New Ones

Pearland Cameras Stay Up, but State Blocks New OnesPearland drivers who travel Texas 288 have likely passed a Flock camera without noticing it. These cameras, like the one mounted along the 288 feeder road in Pearland, snap a picture of every car that goes by and save the license plate number and other details in a database that police can search. Now the state has stopped new ones from going up. At Gov. Greg Abbott's direction, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has frozen permits for Flock cameras and other license plate readers along state roads. The pause even covers projects that were already approved but not yet installed.The freeze does not remove cameras that are already in place, so the ones Pearland drivers see today are staying for now. That includes more than 900 cameras run by the Texas Department of Public Safety. TxDOT says its only job is to approve permits so the cameras are placed safely. It does not install the cameras or see the data they collect. The pause follows Abbott's late-August order cutting off state money for Flock cameras, which came as The Texas Tribune was about to report that a small state agency had helped pay for more than 3,200 of them. A police presentation in Schertz, near San Antonio, said the permit freeze started Sept. 8.The debate over these cameras is growing across Texas and beyond. About 13,000 Flock cameras were in use statewide in August, but hundreds have since been shut off. Many cities and counties have unplugged them after residents raised privacy concerns and after some police officers were arrested or investigated for using the cameras to stalk people. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered cameras removed from state roads, saying he did not want "a surveillance state." Police argue the cameras help solve crimes, cut down on car theft, and find missing people. For Pearland residents, the big question is whether the cameras already watching local highways will stay, or whether this pause is the first step toward taking them down.