08/19/2026
Still here, still watching the incessant march towards tyranny but oh wait, here's a bright light. Thank you Constable!
I’ve received more calls, messages and media requests over the last few days than I can reasonably respond to one at a time, so I want to clear up a few things about Hood County’s Flock cameras and explain where I stand.
First, I did not decide on my own to shut down these cameras.
The Hood County Commissioners Court voted in April to end the county’s relationship with Flock. On August 11th, the Court voted unanimously to have the county’s three cameras disconnected and covered until they can be removed.
My office was asked to get that done, and we got it done.
We didn’t destroy the equipment or take it. The cameras are physically owned by Flock. They remain where they were installed, disconnected and covered.
Had Commissioners Court voted to leave them operating, I would have followed that direction too. The policy decision belonged to the Court. My job was to carry it out.
I’ve also seen some discussion suggesting that I am opposed to law-enforcement technology. I’m not.
I spent 20 years as a Houston police officer and sergeant. I know that technology can help officers find stolen cars, locate dangerous suspects, find missing people and solve serious crimes. There is absolutely a legitimate place for technology in policing.
But there is a difference between using technology to investigate a crime and building a network capable of keeping a searchable record of where ordinary people travel.
One camera reading a license plate at one location is one thing.
Thousands of interconnected cameras that can be searched to determine where a vehicle has been over time is something else entirely.
That’s where I have a problem.
When government has the ability to collect, search and share information about the movements of people who aren’t suspected of committing a crime, I believe that raises serious Fourth Amendment and privacy concerns.
The answer can’t simply be, “Trust us. We won’t misuse it.”
That isn’t an accusation against police officers. Most officers I know are good people trying to do a difficult job. The issue is bigger than any individual officer or agency. Constitutional protections exist because government power needs limits no matter who is holding that power at the moment.
Public safety matters. But I don’t believe “safety” should be a word that automatically ends the discussion whenever individual liberty is involved.
We can have good policing and still insist on boundaries.
We can use technology without giving government unlimited surveillance capability.
And we can support law enforcement while still asking hard questions about how much information government should collect about people who have done nothing wrong.
That’s my position. It really isn’t more complicated than that.
Hood County considered the issue through the public process, Commissioners Court made its decision, and my office carried it out.
Because of the volume of media inquiries, reporters are welcome to use this statement as my current position on the matter.
— John Shirley
Constable, Precinct 2
Hood County, Texas
