Wylie to remove Flock license plate reader cameras after council votes against renewal

The Wylie City Council voted Tuesday night, unanimously, not to renew the city's contract with Flock, a license plate reader camera company.

In a 7-0 vote, council members decided to discontinue the program.

"I think that it is a great tool when you guys are legitimately trying to solve cases. My concern is all of that data is being stored and shared with a lot of other departments," Mayor Matthew Porter said.

The city began using Flock in August 2024. According to the Wylie Police Department, the annual cost for six license plate reader cameras is about $27,000.

During Tuesday's meeting, Assistant Police Chief Tommy Walters discussed how the technology has helped officers solve cases. However, some residents said their concerns center on who has access to the data, not how the department uses it.

Austin Gregory, who founded DeFlock Wylie and launched a petition urging the city to remove the cameras, said residents should have more transparency regarding the system. The petition gathered more than 700 signatures.

Gregory said he believes license plate readers are useful but should be subject to additional regulations.

"I would like to be able to show what all the searches are, who's being searched, when it was searched by what officer ... I don't think this technology's necessarily bad. I think it's actually very helpful in certain cases, but I would like a little more regulation on it," he said.

The city's contract with Flock expires Oct. 31. The cameras are expected to be removed around that time.