Kerrville City Council discuss flock cameras during Tuesday’s meeting

Community members voiced their concerns during Tuesday night’s Kerrville City Council meeting over the city’s use of automated license plate reader cameras, saying the technology raises privacy and safety concerns.  Several speakers said the cameras do more harm than good and questioned who controls them and how data is used.

In late September, a spokesperson for the City of Kerrville addressed recent action by TxDOT related to automated license plate readers,  “Based on the information currently available, the Texas Department of Transportation’s action pauses new permits for automated license plate readers along state-owned highways.  It does not appear to require local governments to discontinue existing LPR systems or prohibit their use generally.”

The Kerrville Police Department currently operates eight fixed artificial intelligence-powered cameras that photograph license plates and scan them against real-time law enforcement databases.  The city’s current camera infrastructure was expanded in 2023 through a $70,000 state grant from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.