Texas City Seeks $2M for Public Records on Flock Camera Data

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TX – A suburb of Fort Worth, Texas, has asked a public records requester to pay $2.3 million for information regarding the city's use of Flock AI-enabled camera systems. The request was made by officials in North Richland Hills to a group seeking data on how its police department utilizes the technology.

Flock Safety's systems are license plate readers that use artificial intelligence to track vehicles. The high fee was reportedly calculated based on the estimated labor required to search approximately one terabyte of communications related to the system's performance and potential misuse. City officials claimed this process would take around 14 years to complete.

The requester, who filed under a pseudonym on behalf of the Texas Privacy Coalition, called the fee 'ludicrous' and suggested it was intended to deter public scrutiny of the technology's deployment. This incident highlights growing tensions between public access to information and the costs associated with fulfilling extensive public records requests, particularly concerning surveillance technologies.

Privacy advocates have raised concerns about the widespread use of such AI-powered surveillance systems by law enforcement, citing potential for misuse and the need for transparency. The significant cost demanded by North Richland Hills for these records underscores a broader debate about the balance between government accountability and the resources required to provide public information.