TEXAS CITY – Texas City Commissioners held a special meeting Wednesday evening to discuss new tax rates, and ongoing concerns over flock cameras.

The tax related issues were first on the agenda including a new tax levy and raising the tax amount for citizens. The new tax levy will be around 35 million dollars, with 30 million of that going to maintenance costs.

The commissioners stated how they will not be able to fix all these issues with the budget immediately, but they hope this will aid in fixing infrastructure and job retention.

The levy passed unanimously.

Commissioners then briefly discussed tax increases. According to city officials this tax increase will be less than one percent and was also passed unanimously.

Commissioners then brought on Assistant Chief James Patterson to do a presentation about the flock camera usage within the police department.

Patterson stated that there are currently 28 Flock cameras owned by Texas City, 26 that are stationary and two that are mobile.

He then explained who has access to the cameras, and the process is in accessing and using the Flock database.

The only officials who have access are detectives, lieutenants, captains, and chiefs, which added up to approximately 30 people. To use the database, they also must have a reason which is selected from a dropdown menu.

Everyone who uses the database is audited and has individual credentials so the activities can be traced back to an individual.

Patterson stated that the training process is still underway but ideally would be through Flock Academy, however that requirement has not yet been enforced.

The Flock system was adopted in 2022 under a five-year lease. Patterson said two revisions have been made in that time, including one earlier this year following two instances of alleged misuse.

In one case, a dispatcher used the cameras to track her own child in a vehicle she owned, 42 times. Patterson said the employer was given a multiple day suspension.

In one other case a male sergeant allegedly misused the technology 16 times. The details of that case were not publicly disclosed. When asked why details were provided for one case and not the other Patterson said the department were making a judgement call.

That sergeant was demoted to an officer and was given a multiple day suspension.

This meeting also allowed public comment where audience members were split, some echoed the points made in the meeting, others brought on concerns such as the option of n/a in the aforementioned drop-down menu, and instances in the public record of searches with no case number filed.

Residents also raised concerns over Flock’s shared network capabilities. Patterson said Texas City’s database was shared with over 700 other departments nationwide. Under the system Texas City does not control how those other agencies use the shared data, however, Patterson said Texas City must approve requests from other departments before information is shared, and the department can also receive information from those agencies.

Multiple members of the police department argued these cameras were instrumental in solving cases. According to the number presented by Patterson there have only been 58 misuses out of around 11,000 searches.

No action was taken regarding the Flock cameras in Texas City during Wednesday meeting, but the commissioners heard concerns from the public, as well as gained more information regarding the database.