February 25, 2026
One lone license-plate reader outside the Tractor Supply on State Highway 173 has turned Bandera into a battleground over surveillance. The Flock Safety camera the city installed there was vandalized and removed, and officials have now slammed the brakes on the rest of the rollout while police sort out what happened. That pause has supercharged an already tense debate, with residents packing a town hall last Wednesday to demand answers, push City Council to kill the project, and trade barbs over whether the cameras are a public-safety upgrade or flat-out "the deep state."
The city has frozen additional camera installations "until after the vandalism investigation," and officials said the question will go back to City Council once that probe is finished. City leaders told the crowd that only a single camera had been put up before it was damaged and taken down.
Town Hall Becomes a Privacy Showdown
At the town hall, Flock Safety representative Kerry McCormack stressed that the cameras are meant to help law enforcement and, according to the company, do not scan faces, track vehicle speed or collect other categories of personal data, as reported by the Bandera Bulletin. Skeptical residents pressed McCormack on how the data is encrypted, where the hardware comes from and who ultimately controls the information.
Speakers compared the system to Big Brother and questioned whether audit logs and written policies would really stop abuse. Several people at the mic urged council members to scrap the Flock contract altogether before more cameras go up around town.
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