DeFlock El Paso is a community organization of El Paso residents. We called on El Paso City Council to cancel the Flock Safety contract when it expired on May 16, 2026, and not renew it. The contract was administratively renewed on April 28. We continue to oppose this vendor and any similar private, venture-backed surveillance company that profits from the data of El Paso residents — and we are calling on council to hold EPPD accountable to the vendor-selection amendment that passed alongside the renewal.
We are not opposed to law enforcement having effective public safety tools. We are opposed to this specific vendor — one with documented security failures, a history of enabling unauthorized federal data access, a patent that contradicts its own marketing claims, and a business model built on monetizing the movements and patterns of the people it surveils. If El Paso wants license plate reader technology, it should be locally governed and locally accountable — not controlled by a Georgia startup with $950 million in venture funding.
We support transparency, accountability, and the right of El Paso residents to know what surveillance technology is operating in their city, who controls it, and who can access their data.
During the March 3, 2026 City Council meeting — the meeting where the Flock contract came up for debate — a council member shared something that stopped the room. A constituent had texted them a photo of a strange camera they'd spotted near their neighborhood. "What is this?" the constituent asked.
The council member's answer: "I don't know what that is."
That council member then spent several days researching it. At the meeting, they told the public: "There's a lot of information that I didn't know about."
At that point, 150 of these cameras had already been operating across El Paso for months — in neighborhoods, near schools, on major corridors. Every vehicle passing them was being photographed, identified, and logged into a national surveillance database. The data was accessible to hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the country. And a sitting El Paso City Council member, whose job is oversight of city contracts, didn't know what the cameras were until a constituent sent them a photo.
This exchange is documented in the official City of El Paso City Council meeting recording from March 3, 2026, at timestamp 7:06:03.
Watch on YouTube →This is not a story about one council member. This is a story about a process that failed an entire city. 150 surveillance cameras were quietly deployed across El Paso — funded by a state grant, contracted with a vendor that has documented security failures, connected to a national data network — with no public debate, no community input, and no council presentation. Residents didn't know. Council members didn't know.
DeFlock El Paso exists because that is not how public surveillance should work in a democracy. If a technology can track where every resident drives, worships, goes to school, and seeks medical care — the public has a right to know it exists, understand who controls the data, and have a say in whether it continues.
Opportunities to get involved beyond calling and emailing your council member are being organized. Check back soon.
The most impactful thing you can do right now is contact your city council representative and demand the accountability conditions the renewal never addressed. Scripts, council contact information, and public comment instructions are all on the Take Action page. It takes five minutes.
You can also share this site. Every El Paso resident who drives past a Flock camera — which is every El Paso resident who drives — has a stake in this decision.
This site contains no legal advice. We are community members, not attorneys. Nothing here should be construed as legal counsel.
All factual claims on this site are sourced from publicly available government records, court filings, federal databases, vendor documents, or named investigative reporting. We make no claims beyond what those sources support. Commentary and editorial positions represent the opinions of DeFlock El Paso and are protected expression under the First Amendment.
If you believe any information on this site is inaccurate, we want to know. Contact us with your correction and source. We will review and correct genuine errors promptly. Getting it right matters more than being right.
DeFlock El Paso is an independent community organization. We are not affiliated with any political party, law firm, law enforcement agency, or other DeFlock organization.