Vol. 73, Issue 2
Est. 1981
Se p te mb e r 1 - Se p te mb e r 8 , 2 0 2 6
THE PAISANO
Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio Community
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Students React to FLock Cameras At University Oaks By Noor-E-Saher Ahmed
T
Graphic Artist here has been a noticeable rise in the installation of automatic license plate r e a d e r surveillance cameras across the nation. While several different companies provide these services, Flock Safety is currently the most popular. As of August, over 130,000 cameras from Flock alone have been mounted across the U.S. These cameras have also appeared at UT San Antonio, with The Paisano counting one on Main Campus and 18 at University Oaks, although only 17 have been documented on the Deflock database. No cameras have been placed at the Downtown or UT Health San Antonio campuses according to the Deflock database. CEO Garrett Langley, CPO Paige Todd and Matt Feury founded Flock Safety in 2017. Andreessen Horowitz, Bedrock Capital and Tiger Global are the private company’s billionaire-
backed investors. On the Flock Safety website, their mission is as stated: “We build technology that helps law enforcement, businesses, schools, and communities find relevant information, respond faster, and make better-informed decisions.” Mounted beside roadways, ALPR cameras utilize artificial intelligence-based image recognition software to scan cars’ license plates and mark the time and location of scanning. Flock’s AI software also tracks distinct features of cars — such as dents, scratches, stickers and roof racks — using pattern recognition to identify vehicles. All of this data is stored on Flock’s private servers, which law enforcement agencies access via a paid subscription. Flock presents their technology as a means for local police departments to find missing people, catch thieves and investigate violent crime. The Paisano reached out to University Oaks for a comment regarding the Flock cameras. The Campus Living Villages Corporate team replied, stating, “The cameras were installed to improve safety and security, they are not continuously monitored or watched live. Authorized senior personnel access relevant camera information as needed to assist with investigating reported safety or security incidents. Authorized CLV management personnel, local police, and university police have access to the system.” When asked about the Flock cameras at University Oaks, some residents were aware of their presence and how they work, while others were not. The Paisano interviewed two University Oaks residents: junior psychology major Isaac Hoth and another student who wished to remain anonymous. The Paisano inquired if there was any communication from University Oaks and UT San Antonio Police
Department regarding the cameras’ installation. “They first put these up here around a year and a half ago — after the sexual assault happened, if I remember correctly,” Hoth recalled. “They just said, ‘oh, we’re just putting up cameras.’ I didn’t know they were Flock cameras. Like most people, I didn’t find out ‘till a few months ago.” “I’ve honestly never really noticed them; I thought they were normal regular cameras,” the anonymous resident said. “I didn’t know they were tracking license plates. They didn’t say anything about them.” According to University Oak’s Campus Living Villages Corporate team, “The cameras were installed in response to resident requests for additional security and safety measures and as a part of our ongoing efforts to support the safety of residents, guests, and staff. Residents were informed during community town halls that additional cameras would be installed in response to their feedback requesting increased security.” The students expressed concern regarding the school’s implementation of Flock Safety technology on campus. The anonymous resident stated, “When I first thought they were for security, I was like, ‘whatever.’ But now that I know they’re tracking people’s license plates, I’m like, ‘what do y’all need to see where I’m going for?’ That’s a little bit too much. I don’t really like them all that much.” “Some of them — not all — have Bluetooth
Blue Mize/ The Paisano
scraping technology, ‘cause every Bluetooth device has a unique ID. If you have your AirPods, it will scrape that ID, and if you walk around the parking lot, it will know you just moved. Yeah, I don’t like it,” Hoth added. While Flock Safety states it does not continuously track people and vehicles, several law enforcement agencies have accompanied their Flock cameras with SignalTrace, a product by technology company Leonardo. These devices capture the signals of all electronics in an individual’s vehicle and link them together based on correlated timestamps to create a profile with the information. It is unknown if the cameras in University Oaks use this technology. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Immigration and Customs Enforcement was found to use these cameras to locate and detain migrants — despite Flock Safety denying that their database is accessible to ICE. Over 50 law enforcement officers have been accused or charged with misusing the ALPRs, including multiple cases of accessing databases to stalk exes and significant others. In Katy, former police officer Sergio Rodriguez was charged with two third-degree felonies after utilizing Flock cameras to track his ex-wife for six months. Michael Steffman, a police chief in Jefferson, Georgia, scanned the plates of his ex-girlfriend and her teenage daughter over 600 times. “When people talk of privacy or safety, they’re prioritizing the wrong thing. What we have to prioritize as a country is compromise,” Langley stated in a recent interview with Fox News. The Paisano asked the two residents if they feel safer with the installation of the Flock Safety cameras. “I mean, not safer. I feel like I’m just neutral. I can kind of see where they’re coming from, in case something happens,” the anonymous resident stated. “But to implement that for everybody, I don’t like that. It’s not like I feel unsafe. I feel the same.” “No. I don’t feel safer,” Hoth said. After intense public scrutiny, Gov. Greg Abbott halted all state funding for Flock surveillance on Aug. 27. In an interview with Glenn Beck, Abbott said, “This is something that is easily containable, easily containable, and we’re ensuring that whether it be through criminal crackdowns, whether it be through cancellation of contracts, whatever the case may be, Flock cameras are being reduced dramatically. They’re going to be required to be used responsibly if they’re used at all.” UTSAPD declined to comment about the Flock cameras at University Oaks.
Parton changes lives through book program’s local branch By Brad Millwater Sports Editor
Dolly Parton’s legacy stands out for not only her music, but her philanthropy as well. Her humble, rural upbringing inspired Parton’s charity, specifically her efforts centered around childhood literacy. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library provides literature to millions of children free of charge. As a child, Parton watched her father struggle to read, driving her to establish the nonprofit. “He was the smartest man I have ever known, but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams,” Parton said in an open letter on Imagination Library’s website. Started in 1995, the Imagination Library mails children one book a month from birth to age five. Originally focused on serving Parton’s home state, Tennessee, the Imagination Library has grown into a worldwide operation and has since been gifted over 330 million books.
San Antonio’s Imagination Library president, Alexa Volpe, benefited from the program while living in Georgia and longed for her children to have the same access to reading when she moved to San Antonio. Volpe credits Parton’s magnanimity with her ability to kickstart the San Antonio chapter. “Dolly creates the opportunity for people at the grassroots level to create community,” Volpe said. “Because [Parton] subsidizes the cost of books, she makes this program startable for a regular [person] like me. For anybody to be able to say, ‘I want my community to have this program.’” ILSA launched operations in 2025 and has since served over 1,700 local children and mailed 11,000 books. ILSA currently focuses on underserved areas in San Antonio — “book deserts” as Volpe calls them — but the chapter plans on expanding to the entire city. ILSA collaborates with the San Antonio Public Library system and regularly visits children’s reading days. ILSA also partners with independent local institutions such as Poetic Republic Coffee Co., a café in Southtown that hosts book readings for children, and Morning Bookclub, a Latina-owned, mobile children’s bookstore. ILSA has recently broadened to dual-language books, featuring English and Spanish text in one book. Sandy Norman, a Paisano Educational Trust trustee and professor emeritus of mathematics at UT San Antonio, serves as the secretary of the ILSA. “Childhood literacy is critical,” Norman said. “The philosophy is to get [kids] interested
in books, to get their parents involved in reading to the kids to begin with. I know when I was a kid, my mother read to me until I could start reading for myself, and that had a profound influence, and I think that’s going to be true for these kids too.” Through Norman, ILSA’s involvement with UT San Antonio is growing, and Volpe hopes to establish a strong connection with student interns to learn by experiencing the operations of a nonprofit. Volpe is prepared to train students in skills, including development, networking, corporate communication and presentations to partners. “Our operations are very lean, but the overall goal is huge: to bring this to 100,000 children,” Volpe stated. “This UTSA partnership creates the next generation of people who are vested in the same mission of getting books into children’s hands.” Prospective interns and those with inquiries should email
admin@imaginationlibrarysa.org for more information. Parton’s grace lives on through Imagination Library and its many chapters worldwide. Her legacy will directly impact the lives of San Antonio children, who may never know her for her music.
Imagination Library San Antonio/ Courtesy