League City residents could decide the fate of the city's Flock surveillance cameras at the ballot box Tuesday, Nov. 3 if the City Council approves Mayor Nick Long's referendum ordinance at its Tuesday, Aug. 11 meeting.
The 6 p.m. vote at Council Chambers, 200 West Walker St., follows Long's Tuesday, Aug. 4 announcement of the agenda item. But the ordinance Long is bringing to council goes beyond a simple yes-or-no ballot question. It includes a proposed oversight committee with three specific safeguards, which Long described in detail for the first time in an ABC13 interview published Aug. 7:
- Quarterly random audits of camera access points
- A two-officer access requirement, meaning no single officer could pull camera data alone
- A mandatory case number tied to every camera query
The rules aim to prevent abuse.
"On a quarterly basis, we would randomly select various access points into the cameras and make sure all the procedures were followed. Double-verify the two officers accessing the cameras, so not an officer on their own. And then also a case number tied to that investigation," Long told ABC13. "And so the idea behind that is it would stop some of the abuses."
Long cited misuse cases in neighboring jurisdictions as the reason for the guardrails. A Pasadena officer was investigated for allegedly using Flock cameras to track a fellow female officer. A Baytown officer under investigation for camera abuse resigned. A Fort Bend County sheriff's deputy was suspended after looking up one person's plate 41 times and another's 148 times.
The League City Police Department has credited the cameras with aiding a July 2026 organized retail theft investigation that recovered more than $400,000 in stolen merchandise, according to a city press release. That case resulted in a first-degree felony arrest of a Houston woman.
The Tuesday, Nov. 3 date is already set as League City's general election day. The council approved an election-services contract with Galveston County for that date at its June 23 meeting, with a runoff scheduled for Dec. 12 if needed.
Long first announced the referendum item Tuesday, Aug. 4, writing on X that it would give residents the opportunity to decide whether they want the cameras in League City. As we reported Aug. 7, he took the case to ABC13 ahead of the council vote.
No other council members have publicly stated a position on the ordinance. The council includes Mayor Pro Tem Sean Saunders and council members Andy Mann, Tommy Cones, Tom Crews, Courtney Chadwell, Scott Higginbotham and Chad Tressler.
The next regular council meeting after Tuesday is scheduled for Aug. 25 at 6 p.m. Residents can attend the Aug. 11 meeting in person at Council Chambers or check the city's Legistar page for the posted agenda.
