Resident warns Commissioners Court that ALPR camera networks create searchable map of movements

Ivan Sercik, a Bryan resident, spoke during public comment about automated license-plate readers (ALPRs), also called 'flock' cameras. Citing data he had obtained from the Bryan Police Department, Sercik said that in the first two weeks of April Bryan PD searched camera data hundreds of times and that, across agencies and third parties, hundreds of organizations had searched the shared dataset. "Do I trust all 409 organizations that read that data? Do I even know who else has access to that information?" he asked, arguing a network of linked readings creates a large, searchable map of citizens' movements.

Sercik said the power of ALPRs lies in the scale of the network and that searches included entities beyond local law enforcement, mentioning universities, medical centers and railroads among those he said had accessed or run queries against shared data. He urged the county’s elected officials to "reconsider this massive surveillance path that we're going down."

There was no detailed staff presentation or vote tied to the ALPR comments at this meeting; commissioners acknowledged the concern and public-commenters asked staff to note the issue for future discussion. The court did not take immediate policy action at the meeting.