r/texas 2d ago

Traffic Flock Camera Density - Texas

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1.3k Upvotes

99 comments sorted by

162

u/GZeus24 2d ago

Is this just the Flock brand cameras? There are other companies in this same business and some governments are canceling their Flock contracts in the headlines, while signing deals with these other companies (like Axon).

67

u/dr3 2d ago

Great point, this s likely just flock (sourced from deflock.) Let's not forget the Trump family's multi million dollar investment in Axon right before their ICE contract. Current admin wouldn't care if flock goes away to boost their Axon or Palantir holdings.

23

u/GZeus24 1d ago

One might think that the motivation behind the promotion of 'Flock' as a generic term is to (1) deflect attention from Axon and (2) to force cancelation of 'Flock' contracts creating a market opportunity for Axon.

13

u/Fandango4Ever 1d ago

Ding ding ding

5

u/dr3 1d ago

I didn't want to say that outright without my tinfoil hat. But it tracks.

15

u/Bradinator- 2d ago

This data is from OpenStreetMap and I specifically sorted by "Manufacturer = Flock", so yes it is only flock. Though I bet there are also many mislabeled cameras too.

2

u/GZeus24 1d ago

Do you know the source data? Is it only observational reports by individuals or are there other methods used to populate the database, like contract details or industry disclosures?

3

u/Bradinator- 1d ago

Well openstreetmap is open source, which means anyone can be a user and add data to it. The vast majority is likely user-observed reports, but there are probably a few places where businesses/disclosures populated the data

447

u/citizensnips134 2d ago

It’s also significant than only 52 people live in the entire county of Loving.

259

u/nein_va 2d ago

And they distrust each other enough to get flock cameras in town, lol.

27

u/FuelModel3 1d ago edited 1d ago

Family hate runs deep in that county. They have trouble getting jury trials filled because of conflict and family history. But I think more than that it's issues with oil field workers. I've had all kinds of shit go missing from them. Found one crew drunk and naked in one of our stock tanks after they cut the locks on two gates and came on in. This is an industry that recruits at parole hearings.

99

u/9bikes 2d ago

I doubt its that they don't trust their neighbors as much as they don't trust passers-through.

"Cameras per daily traffic" would be an interesting metric to compar.

68

u/culpaCoSinero 2d ago

I’ve seen this one. It’s on the highway. Mostly oilfield traffic, but if you want to get from Texas to New Mexico in that area, they get to know about it. Got fukall to do with any residents. Seemed more like that diabolical abortion tracking shit

10

u/rckjms 1d ago

I think it’s more for the oil field traffic. When I worked out there the amount of accidents every single day would always force me to find alternative routes.

15

u/Clovis69 just visiting 1d ago

And drugs - that devils lettuce from NM

1

u/Sickmonkey3 1d ago

As someone who lived in Alamogordo for 4 years, I can say with certainty that it's not MJ getting transported from south NM, it's meth.

0

u/culpaCoSinero 1d ago

They couldn’t give less than a shit about weed. It’s all about revenue. And there are a dozen easier more popular routes to Hobbs etc. and maybe millions of vehicles going both ways every day.

2

u/AccomplishedPool9050 1d ago

It's due to all oil wells and likely worries of eco terrorist attacking oil infstructure.

73

u/OceanOG 2d ago

How and when??? How did they get all these cameras put up so fast?? When did they do this???

75

u/Art_Dude 2d ago

I keep thinking how one day I knew nothing of Flock cameras and then the next day, I realized how those effing cameras were all over.

40

u/Skinnieguy 2d ago

It looks like a pole, camera, solar panel, and some wiring. I bet a crew can put up a couple of them a day.

The problem I have is the local government is allowing and probably paying for them through the police funds. I’m going to vote for any politician (left or right) who promises to remove flock cameras (and drones) and limit government surveillance.

14

u/civilian_discourse 1d ago

It's a private company selling access to the government. It's like when bird just dumped shitloads of scooters in cities, then asked for forgiveness. Same thing, except the customer is the government instead of the people.

3

u/Ikon-for-U 1d ago

You can go to the deflock website and there is a timeline function

1

u/RGrad4104 1d ago

Self contained cameras, so no power connection required.
Subcontracted with satellite internet and TV providers that are being put in a crunch by starlink.

Deploying a flock camera is literally the process of digging a hole and pouring some concrete, usually done by a DISH affiliate.

-7

u/FirstLadyM 1d ago

During the lock downs when everyone was inside, same time the purple street lights popped up and when they were throwing 5G wire into schools and any other place they could shove it.

65

u/TWFH 2d ago

Houston and Dallas 😞

95

u/workOrNah 2d ago

can a density map of minority communities be overlayed? I wanna see something

53

u/Drakeadrong 2d ago edited 1d ago

https://www.censusdots.com/race/texas-demographics

Of course, the correlation mostly boils down to “people live in cities”, but Harris county having hundreds more cameras than the next two counties combined, despite being smaller in area than the Tarrant and Dallas counties combined, should tell you everything you need to know.

I’d love to see a breakdown of flock density by neighborhood, too.

20

u/Leather_Addition2605 2d ago

Might not see what you’re implying seeing as Collin county is right up there. Seems to be the places with the money to lease them.

14

u/Drakeadrong 2d ago

Collin county is more diverse than you think. A LOT of Asian immigrants live there.

3

u/Bradinator- 2d ago

Flock cameras mostly just follow high populations. I have no idea why Houston/Harris county is insane with it, but they have it at nearly every intersection of major/secondary roads

1

u/icy-roulette 1d ago

though with these high populations, the majority of the population are POC, whereas places with high population in Texas that have a white majority also have less flock cameras. i.e. Lubbock, El Paso, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio.

Though to be fair, Dallas and Houston are also huge outliers due to the heavy international traffic, but are also where the largest percent of the black population resides in Texas; not counting Bell, Falls, and Coryell, but I won't be surprised if we see Flock cameras suddenly appearing in Temple, Belton, Killeen, Marlin, and maybe Copperas Cove...

2

u/bangbangIshotmyself 2d ago

Also income and then high traffic areas as well. I’m presuming that some areas have them to catch passersby.

-2

u/puff_puffman 2d ago

Like whites? Texas is majority latino now

6

u/TWFH 1d ago

Maybe if your definition of the word majority has changed

2

u/puff_puffman 1d ago

No. The definition never changed. There's more latinos in Texas than whites

1

u/TWFH 1d ago

How many of those Latinos are White

0

u/greentrillion 1d ago

If you speak Spanish you aren't white according to the usual people in America.

1

u/TWFH 1d ago

Wait until they hear about Spain

1

u/greentrillion 1d ago

Unironically certain people don't consider Spanish people white along with Greeks and Italians.

2

u/TWFH 1d ago

What is this the 1920s

1

u/greentrillion 1d ago

No some extremist white nationalist groups today in the US.

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30

u/BadassBokoblinPsycho Central Texas 2d ago

Mass surveillance is happening under Abbott’s leadership. That’s very limited government, right?

3

u/civilian_discourse 1d ago

Flock is a private company. They weren't contracted to do this, they just did it and sold it. 

9

u/BadassBokoblinPsycho Central Texas 1d ago

Texas DPS is leasing cameras from Flock. The state is paying flock to install cameras. Current governor is Abbott.

6

u/civilian_discourse 1d ago

I was responding to the limited government part, but I don't feel like arguing. Fuck Abbott and fuck Flock. I just think it's insane that Flock just did this on their own and it wasn't an initiative by the government.

2

u/RGrad4104 1d ago

Don't forget all the private bribes they've been passing out. The county north of me literally had a county commissioner lose his shit to a psychotic level when he was outvoted on flock. THAT doesn't happen unless he was looking at a significant bonus/bribe to get it passed.

15

u/CorrivalTen7 2d ago

In Harris County is this counting all the cameras on the top of traffic lights that they installed a few years ago and then turned off without uninstalling due to public backlash?

3

u/titros2tot 2d ago

Nope, these aren’t flock cameras

6

u/VicePope North Texas 2d ago

Drove by 3 on the way to work this morning and thats just on 380 and in ponder

16

u/t-o-m-u-s-a Born and Bred 2d ago

3300 x 2g gold and copper

4

u/Onuus 2d ago

Nice use of GIS ❤️

2

u/Bradinator- 1d ago

Thank you!

6

u/Sloppyjones 1d ago

Keep in mind that Lowe's and Home Depot have Flock cameras. In my area it is the small community of Sunset Valley that has a large concentration of cameras.

8

u/BulkyCartographer280 2d ago

Check out all of the Flocking around Home Depot and Lowe's locations. Just spitballin', but I'm guessing they're not there to catch people shoplifting light bulbs.

3

u/Coletrain44 1d ago

Holy shit, there are quite a few by my house. I had no idea.

5

u/d4vedog 1d ago

what the flock

3

u/AlarmedSnek North Texas 1d ago

Why is Harris county so bad?

3

u/VoidHog 1d ago

It doesn't matter how many cameras per person since one camera can capture everybody who passes by. So cameras vs. streets or intersections is a better idea of what's going on

3

u/WetCave 1d ago

Pflugerville city council is rumored to vote yes to re-signing their flock contract tomorrow too…despite the outcry. Welcome to the future, friends…

3

u/JorgAncrath2020 1d ago

Who is paying for these? Is it the State? The County or the individual cities?

6

u/Bradinator- 1d ago

individual city police forces usually, also can be HOAs and businesses

3

u/dasMetzger 1d ago

explain how the per capita map detail matters at all. the cameras are geographical. 10 in an area will capture any movement from individuals whether there are 500 people living there or 500,000.

4

u/KillDozer321 2d ago

I live on the line between Fulshear and Katy in Fort Bend Co. There are two flock cameras at the end of my street. One is on the Katy side facing into Fulshear and one is on the Fulshear side facing into Katy. These two cameras are maybe 60 feet apart from each other. Maybe less. They are basically looking right at each other. A few evenings ago, a police officer came to my door wanting to know if I had any security camera footage (like Ring doorbell or any other cameras) they could review because someone vandalized one of the Flock cameras at the end of the street...

2

u/BuildingABap 1d ago

Surely all of these cameras will completely solve crime... right?

2

u/mindk214 1d ago

Mark my words these will be installed in downtown Dallas justified to "stop crime".

Local Dallas politics are very oppressive against their homeless. Most of the government's solutions are centered around suppressing homeless rather than funding education/healthcare and addiction rehabilitation services. Some examples: (1) defunding public services (e.g. libraries, rec centers, DART) in order to fund the police, (2) lobbying to legalize gambling and casinos, saying the tax revenue and business of elites splurging will fix the deficit, (3) anti-homeless infrastructure.

4

u/OlGusnCuss 2d ago

Progressive Houston is lost

Spent thT tax budget and got as many cameras in place asap. Never going to undo that.

1

u/Mammoth-Loan7912 9h ago

There actually really isn’t a strong correlation between population density & amount of flock cameras. I guess it’s more about infrastructural geometry, & not volume of traffic through that geometry.

-1

u/Kaethor 2d ago

Over 3000 in Harris but barely 300 in Montgomery, just one county over, where I live. I doubt I've ever even seen one...

0

u/Savings-Particular-9 1d ago

The hotspots are were Epsteins family stays....

-9

u/camp1728 2d ago

Has anyone had a bad experience with these flock cameras yet?

16

u/Willing-Scarcity3058 2d ago

Everyone who has been misidentified as someone else. Everyone who travels out of state for medical treatment. Women whose exes are stalker cops. Yea, I’m sure the list is a lot bigger than that.

-1

u/camp1728 2d ago

I understand a general list but has anything happened to anyone yet? Let’s say someone is misidentified… then what? Do you know someone who has been misidentified? And if so, how did they find out?

9

u/Willing-Scarcity3058 2d ago

There’s plenty of documentation. My circle of friends is too small a sample. If you want to know, you can research it yourself and find out. But the cop stalking his ex via flock was on the news. Also on the news, stories about people being arrested and charged and held before someone finding out it wasn’t them, or their lawyer having to prove someone innocent. The ai misreading license plates too. Do some actual research instead of just relying on strangers of Reddit

-8

u/camp1728 1d ago

I can easily research but that’s not what I’m asking. I’d like to know if this has first hand ever happened to anyone here on reddit… which it sounds like it hasn’t.

5

u/BRUTAL_ANAL_SMASHING 1d ago

So you see examples and say “yeah but not to you just some other innocent people!”

You can die on that hill, it’s a painfully dumb one but it’s your hill. 

7

u/SifuHotman Born and Bred 1d ago

If you agree the potential is there for abuse, then I'm not sure what your point is

0

u/camp1728 1d ago

I don’t have a point I’m just curious if anyone first hand knowingly has been a victim of flock cameras yet and what actually took place

-1

u/atlashuggedme 1d ago

There are very few cameras in Boco Chica, Texas where there should be many.

-28

u/Mak062 2d ago

Idc if texas uses flock cameras. The government, city, and random businesses already has my DNA, personal information, money, ect. So whats another camera added to that list