Houston Police Department is the top Flock camera searcher in Lucas County, Ohio, data shows

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Lucas County, Ohio, Board of Commissioners president, Pete Gerken, said he was shocked to learn Houston Police is the agency searching their Flock camera systems the most.

"Houston, there is a problem," Gerken said.

With a population of about 423,000 people, Lucas County Sheriff's Office data shows the northwest Ohio county's Flock camera system was searched more than 900,000 times between June and July 2026.

Gerken was the one who originally requested the data from the Lucas County Sheriff's Office and made this discovery.

"I was kind of surprised, and it made me wonder, 'Why are they doing this?'" Gerken said.

An analysis of the data by 13 Investigates found that in a 30-day span between June and July, Houston Police searched the Lucas County Flock database over 71,000 times, Texas DPS searched over 13,000 times, and the Harris County Sheriff's Office searched Lucas County license plate readers over 10,000 times. In all, 16% of Flock searches in Lucas County over that one-month span came from agencies around the Houston area, ranging from state agencies to local school district police.

Houston police did not make someone available for an interview so ABC13 could ask why.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office sent a statement saying Flock has an option that allows agencies to run their searches through a national database of Flock camera users who choose to be a part of the national option. While HCSO could not confirm this caused the large number of searches, a spokesperson said it is likely.

"The lines between public law enforcement and private corporate surveillance have been blurred significantly at this point," Howard Henderson, the director of the Center for Justice Research at TSU, said.

Henderson said this is an example of why privacy advocates say Flock license plate readers and cameras are a concern, and it begs the question: who, in turn, is looking at Houston drivers?

"It allows law enforcement to circumvent public oversight and build a massive surveillance footprint on private property without a warrant,' Henderson said.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office said all searches must be done as part of an ongoing criminal investigation; however, we have seen multiple agencies in our area confirm officers and deputies using license plate readers for personal use.