North Richland Hills Demands $2.3 Million for Flock Records

North Richland Hills, a Fort Worth suburb, has quoted $2.3 million to fulfill a public records request for data on its police department's use of Flock license-plate cameras, according to a Texas Tribune report cited by Ars Technica. The request sought communications about errors, misuse and the effectiveness of the Flock system.

How did the city arrive at $2.3 million?

City officials told the requester the search would cover roughly a terabyte of communications and take about 14 years of labor billed at $15 an hour, the Tribune reported. Phil Mynona, who filed the request under a pseudonym on behalf of the Texas Privacy Coalition, called the figure "ludicrous" and said it appeared designed to stifle his group's records searches, according to the Tribune account relayed by Ars Technica.

How does that compare with other Texas agencies?

Mynona has filed similar requests with more than 200 law enforcement agencies nationwide and told the Tribune the fees are impossible to predict. Some departments turned over more than 400,000 pages of documents at no charge, he said, while others billed around $5,000. A Houston television station, KPRC, was quoted up to $121,000 for comparable Flock records, per the Tribune's reporting cited in the Ars Technica piece. The Texas Department of Public Safety, meanwhile, has asked the state Attorney General's Office for permission to withhold its Flock data entirely — a request made after DPS had already answered an earlier, identical records request covering prior weeks, the Tribune found.

Why is scrutiny of Flock intensifying now?

Bipartisan pressure on the company has grown as records requests surface cases of officers misusing the camera network to track people outside any investigation. A former Texas officer, Zachary Anthony Klein, pleaded guilty last week to 100 felony counts of misuse of official information, a deal that spared him stalking-related charges tied to several victims, according to the Tribune's reporting. The case traced back to a public records request filed by USA Today that triggered a probe and Klein's arrest. Texas Governor Greg Abbott halted state Flock funding and stopped issuing new permits after the disclosure, the Tribune reported.

"Ludicrous," is how Phil Mynona described the $2.3 million quote, telling the Texas Tribune the pricing seemed engineered to block his group's searches.

What is Flock's position on the records fights?

Flock Safety maintains its automated license-plate readers are built for lawful public-safety use, according to the company's public statements referenced in the Ars Technica report. The company has not introduced reforms specifically addressing officers' documented misuse of the cameras to monitor private individuals, the report said.

What happens to requesters who can't pay?

For advocacy groups and newsrooms, the practical effect of six-figure and seven-figure fee quotes is the same: records that might otherwise prompt audits, firings or policy changes stay out of public view unless a requester can pay or successfully challenges the charge. North Richland Hills and the Texas DPS both face continued pressure from requesters and, potentially, the state Attorney General's Office, which can weigh in on fee disputes and withholding claims under Texas public-information law, per the Tribune's reporting.