League City will ask its voters in November whether the city should keep using Flock Safety's automated license plate reader cameras, after the City Council voted Tuesday night to place the question on the ballot.
The vote was unanimous, according to FOX 26 Houston.
It is believed to be among the first times a Texas city has put its license plate reader program before voters, and the outcome will be watched well beyond Galveston County, because the same cameras operate in cities across the state, including many in North Texas.
What the ballot will ask
The proposition asks whether League City should continue using Flock's automated license plate readers. The city's police department currently operates 55 active cameras, with 16 more awaiting permits from the Texas Department of Transportation.
The referendum is non-binding. The council retains final authority to keep, modify or end the program regardless of the result, and it must take separate action after the vote.
A mayor arguing both sides
Mayor Nick Long, who proposed the referendum, made the case for the cameras and against them in the same breath.
"There's really no question that they work. They have helped in some fairly high-profile crimes, including murders," Long said.
He also said: "It is a huge privacy concern. It's a privacy concern from the data being accessed on our end and on the company's end."
