Flock Safety cameras are seen at many street corners in southern Denton County. But how do they work?
According to Flock’s website, its cameras can detect gunshots, certain audio and read license plates, helping law enforcement quickly search for incidents and suspect vehicles without having to watch hours of footage.
It can also identify certain characteristics of a car – make, model, dents, scratches, stickers and other accessories.
That has been the cameras’ use in towns and cities across southern Denton County, and they’ve been around the area for a while.
Argyle’s Crime Control and Prevention District used part of its 2022 budget to buy an additional Flock camera to help the Argyle Police Department increase patrol efficiency.
According to Argyle Police Chief Emmitt Jackson, there are about 12 cameras around town, which have helped the department catch suspects in burglary and stolen vehicle cases, among others.
“There were some burglaries in a neighborhood and Flock is the only reason we were able to put that person in jail,” said Jackson. “It’s a tool that has been invaluable to our investigations and our ability to take criminals off the street.”
A glance at any of the monthly police blotters in The Cross Timbers Gazette shows what Flock cameras can do for law enforcement.
Northlake PD used Flock cameras in September 2025 to track down a car that was stolen from Tennessee.
Lewisville PD got a notification from a Flock camera in May that led to the arrest of a Flower Mound man that had stolen a vehicle and items from a car in Highland Village. He was also in possession of methamphetamine.
The City of Highland Village saw its success and approved the addition of five Flock cameras to its budget for Fiscal Year 2025-2026.
Bartonville PD and Corinth PD used Flock cameras in both jurisdictions in November 2025 to find and arrest a man that had robbed gas stations in both municipalities at gunpoint.
Another Flock hit in February helped Bartonville PD track a car that was stolen out of Fort Worth.
Lantana has 13 Flock cameras around its residential communities, which in a 1-year period produced 615 sex offender-related alerts, 102 alerts for protection orders, 35 for stolen vehicles or license plates and a few others for violent persons, missing persons and active warrants.
A Bartonville Police Blotter from July 2022 noted 14 Flock cameras positioned around town read license plates 614,872 times from May 21 to June 21.
The Denton County Sheriff’s Office installed eight Flock cameras around its facility in 2024.
“These cameras contribute to the overall safety of our residents and are proven tools for crime reduction as well as aiding law enforcement in solving numerous cases,” said Sheriff Tracy Murphree in a column for The Gazette.
For many agencies, it helps them be everywhere they can’t.
But not all Flock cameras are installed by government entities.
Flock does have cameras in Flower Mound, but they are not owned nor maintained by the town, according to a social media post from Flower Mound Mayor Pro Tem Adam Schiestel.
“The Flock cameras currently located in town are owned and operated by private entities, such as [homeowners associations] and commercial property owners,” he said.
Flower Mound listened to a proposal to enter into an agreement with Flock Safety in May 2023, but nothing came of it.
Schiestel said he has concerns about the company’s data collection, retention, sharing and governance practices – likely part of the reason the deal between Flock and Flower Mound fell through.
“While I recognize that [license plate reader] technology can be a force multiplier for law enforcement, I do not accept the loss of privacy and civil liberties that comes with creating a system capable of tracking the movements of law-abiding residents over time,” said Schiestel. “I will not support using public funds to install or operate them.”
According to Flock’s website, data can be held onto for up to one year, but Jackson said Argyle’s contract with the company only allows data to be held for 30 days, and that data cannot be sold or given to third parties.
Murphree explained that cameras also don’t collect facial data for any sort of recognition.
“While a person may appear briefly in an image, the system cannot search for, identify or filter personal data, ensuring the privacy of our residents remains protected,” he said. “Instead, it captures vehicle data through still images, avoiding video recording or continuous tracking of individuals.”
Despite Flower Mound not owning or operating any of the cameras within town limits, Flower Mound PD confirmed it is allowed to access the footage captured, if the owning entity allows it.
Schiestel clarified that he supports mobile license plate reading technology, such as those equipped by patrol vehicles.
“Those systems capture information only where an officer is present at a particular moment and cannot be used to create the same long-term record of residents’ daily movements that a network of fixed-cameras can,” he said. “This is a reasonable use of technology that mitigates the civil liberty concern.”
Jackson understood the concerns of citizens, but also mentioned the many other devices people use in their homes that collect data… for other reasons.
He believes Flock is tech that has a true purpose – to protect citizens.
“The gain in criminal intelligence and the ability to solve crimes and protect the community far outweighs the minimal impact of us knowing where people are,” said Jackson. “We can’t be everywhere… if it tells us there’s a criminal act, we’re going to react to that, but we’re not interested in tracking where people go unless they’ve committed a criminal offense.”
Flock is a private company, meaning taxpayers don’t have a say in its operations, but residents of towns and cities can speak to their elected officials to express their concerns.
The cameras owned and operated by homeowners associations could be a conversation with those representatives.
According to Schiestel, a pair of Flock cameras in Flower Mound were recently taken down after they were found to have been installed within the public right-of-way without authorization.
Website DeFlock is a group that maps exactly where license plate reading cameras are positioned around the United States.
