Texas freezes funding for more Flock AI cameras
Governor Greg Abbott froze state spending on Flock's AI surveillance cameras just before a report on more than $30 million in purchases.
Illustration: a slim pole-mounted camera unit above an empty suburban intersection at dusk.
Texas has stopped buying more of Flock's AI surveillance cameras with state money after Governor Greg Abbott froze the spending.
At a glance
- Governor Greg Abbott has frozen state spending on additional Flock cameras.
- The report ties the move to growing public backlash against Flock's AI surveillance cameras.
- A Texas Tribune investigation puts state spending so far at more than $30 million.
- The freeze came shortly before that investigation was published.
- Unverified: the date, the camera count, and where the money came from; the original article would not load for us.
Texas has stopped putting state money toward new AI surveillance cameras from Flock. Governor Greg Abbott froze the spending, and the decision landed shortly before the Texas Tribune published an investigation into the program.
What the freeze covers
The summary available to us describes a halt on state funds for additional Flock cameras. It follows mounting public criticism of the company's AI camera network. Whether already-ordered hardware falls under the freeze, and how long the freeze is meant to last, is not stated.
The $30 million figure
The Texas Tribune reports that the state has spent more than $30 million on Flock cameras. We carry that number as the Tribune's finding, relayed by The Verge, rather than as a figure we checked ourselves. How the money was raised is not something we can state: the sentence describing it is cut off mid-word in the excerpt we have, and we are not filling in the rest.
What we could not confirm
Our tooling could not load the original article, so this piece rests on a short excerpt. That leaves several things open: the date of the decision, how many cameras and agencies are affected, the exact wording of any quotes, and whether camera data was shared with other authorities. Only one independent newsroom is available as a source here. Until that changes, we treat this as a report with open questions rather than a settled account.
FAQ
Why did Texas stop paying for Flock cameras?
The report links the freeze to growing backlash against Flock's AI surveillance cameras. We do not have an official statement from the governor's office in full.
How much has Texas spent on Flock cameras?
More than $30 million, according to the Texas Tribune investigation. We were not able to verify that figure independently.
Are existing Flock cameras being switched off?
Nothing in the material we have says so. The freeze concerns state spending on more cameras, not the shutdown of hardware already in place.
