North Richland Hills, a Fort Worth-area suburb, initially estimated that a request for records about its police department’s Flock Safety cameras would cost $2.3 million. That was an estimate for reviewing communications—not a confirmed final charge or an amount the requester paid. After the requester narrowed the request, police said the cost was expected to be significantly lower, but the city did not provide a revised figure to The Texas Tribune.
Why did North Richland Hills estimate $2.3 million?
The Texas Tribune reported on October 5, 2026, that the city’s initial invoice estimated labor at $15 an hour to review nearly one terabyte of communications. The city said the estimate reflected communications that were legally required to be reviewed. The available reporting does not include an independently verified itemized calculation, so the city’s explanation is a stated rationale, not confirmation that the estimate was correct.
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The request concerned errors, misuse and effectiveness related to the city’s Flock Safety cameras. The requester, Phil Mynona—a public pseudonym used on behalf of the Texas Privacy Coalition—later narrowed the request. The Tribune reported that the city did not say whether narrowing changed the amount; a police-department post said the amended request was expected to cost significantly less.
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The final revised amount and the current response status were not confirmed in the Tribune’s report. The $2.3 million figure should therefore be understood as the initial estimate, not a final assessed fee, a court ruling or a confirmed payment.
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Mynona told the Tribune he had sent nearly identical requests to almost 200 law-enforcement agencies. He described North Richland Hills’ estimate as an outlier, saying the highest amount he had previously received was $5,000 from Victoria, Texas. He also said Sealy reportedly provided more than 400,000 pages without charge. Those comparisons are the requester’s account as reported by the Tribune, not a like-for-like agency cost study; request scope and handling can differ.
What do Flock cameras record and who can search them?
Flock automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras capture plate numbers and other vehicle identifiers, including a vehicle’s make, model, bumper stickers and dents, according to the Tribune. The reporting says officers can query thousands of cameras owned by hundreds of agencies at once.
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That network capability does not establish which agencies or users can access North Richland Hills’ data, how often its cameras are searched, or how long the city retains records. The Tribune noted that those details are unknown in many Texas cities unless departments disclose them. They should not be inferred for North Richland Hills from another city’s contract.
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What does Texas public-records law mean for the request?
The Texas Public Information Act provides a process for requesting government information. The City of Houston’s public guidance says requests must be written and seek information that already exists; it says the Act does not require a city to create new information, compile data, conduct legal research or answer questions. That general guidance does not determine whether North Richland Hills calculated this particular estimate lawfully.
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Why agency records and fees are hard to compare
Responses can differ based on what a request covers and how an agency processes it. A useful comparison should keep the request scope and time period in view and distinguish an estimate from a final charge. It should also account for the stated labor rate and review volume, any waiver or narrowing options, whether records were produced or withheld or sent for legal review, and what the resulting records show about retention, outside access and auditing.
Local contract terms can vary, too. For example, a July 2026 Wharton Post report described Wharton records assigning data ownership to the city, allowing specified service-related uses and authorized law-enforcement sharing, and providing for automatic deletion after 30 days. Those are terms from Wharton’s records, not evidence of North Richland Hills’ policy.
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