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Flock cameras are under scrutiny for a variety of reasons, and that has police departments in the Austin area considering their use of the technology. Even so, you should still expect to see the cameras here in Central Texas. We’ll tell you why and where.
With less than two months left until Election Day, the Republican National Committee is bringing a first-of-its-kind midterm convention to the state this week. Why now? And why Texas?
In Austin, there are plenty of taco choices to explore: bougie or basic, flour or corn, with cheese or not. But when’s the last time you had a halal taco? It wasn’t even on the menu at an East Austin taco truck — until a customer asked.
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The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:08] Flock cameras are under scrutiny for a variety of reasons, and that has police departments in the Austin area considering their future use of that technology. Even so, you should still expect to see the cameras here in central Texas. We’re gonna tell you why. And with less than two months left until election day, the Republican National Committee is bringing a first-of-its-kind midterm convention to the state this week. Why now, and why Texas? That’s coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:32] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Kehano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:38] Here in Austin, there are plenty of taco choices to explore. Bougie or basic, flour or corn, with cheese or not. But when’s the last time you had a halal taco? It wasn’t even on the menu at an East Austin taco truck. That is until a customer asked. We’ve got that story and a whole lot more. That’s up next, right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, thank you for tuning in to Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Keconnell. It is September 8th, it is a Tuesday, just in case you need a little reminding. We are very glad that you’re here with us. Police departments across Central Texas are reconsidering their use of Flock Safety’s license plate reading cameras. You have probably seen one, or surely it’s seen you. Maybe during your back to school shopping at the mall, or a quick weekend trip to grab something at the store. Amid a wave of national backlash, Texas Governor Greg Abbott last month paused state agencies from spending money on that technology. But as KUT’s Andrew Weber reports, here in the Austin area, cameras will continue be around and in use for some time to come.
Andrew Weber [00:01:51] If you’ve been really anywhere near a screen in the last few weeks, you’ve probably heard the word.
Korey Pereira [00:01:57] Lookerville City Council has decided not to renew the city’s
Rebecca Trahan [00:02:01] with flock safety. The city of Elgin is the latest to pause its use of flock cameras.
Speaker 6 [00:02:06] Fast Drop City Council voted to consider terminating its contract with Flock Safety next week.
Andrew Weber [00:02:12] This summer, residents in central Texas and across the state have pushed police departments and city councils to abandon Flock Safety’s AI-empowered cameras that constantly scan license plates along roads. People have found a lot to dislike about these cameras and Flock. The company has been accused of lying to police departments and local leaders. They own all of the images from these cameras, so police can’t always control where that data ends up. And on top of that, some police officers have abused the technology to stalk people. The wave of anti-flock sentiment even got Governor Greg Abbott’s attention.
Greg Abbott [00:02:46] The flaw cameras are being reduced dramatically and they’re gonna be required to be used responsibly if they’re used at all.
Andrew Weber [00:02:52] That appearance on the Glenn Beck program came hours after Abbott paused state funding for all new flock cameras. That was earlier this month, but these cameras have been around for years and people have been disliking them for years. Mackenzie Ryan is one of those people. She’s a digital rights attorney and an advocate with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Ryan helped push the Austin Police Department to take down its cameras last year.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:03:16] I always knew, I was pretty optimistic that once people knew these were up, and with the flagrant lies and the particular egregiousness of Flock as a company, that this would likely result in a lot of people talking about this issue.
Andrew Weber [00:03:31] But these cameras aren’t going anywhere in central Texas. For one, there are private flock cameras all over the city. Malls like Barton Creek Square Mall and the Domain have cameras. Plenty of HOAs have cameras too. And big box stores like Home Depot and Academy still have cameras, too. And DPS still maintains a whole network of flock cameras along state-owned roads in Austin. And Austin police can still request data from those cameras. Nearby police departments, Hutto, Taylor, Kyle Lakeway, Cedar Park, and B-Cave, also still have flock cameras. Round Rock has one of the largest flock networks in Central Texas. Over the past month, images from its cameras have been shared with more than 1,400 other agencies, most of them out of state. Round Rock Police Chief Alan Banks says he understands concerns, but the cameras have helped solve crimes, particularly car thefts, and he plans to keep them.
Alan Banks [00:04:26] We will not make everybody happy, we won’t. But I also have an obligation to take care of our community and if somebody commits a crime, it’s our job to hold them accountable.
Andrew Weber [00:04:39] Just a few months ago, flock cameras were touted as a solution here in Austin, when three suspects allegedly went on a shooting spree across the city. The Austin Police Department doesn’t have flock cameras anymore, but Maynard Police did, and Maynards flock cameras helped APD find the suspect. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson addressed that, thanking the Maynarded Police Department, but adding things could have played out differently if Austin still had its cameras.
Kirk Watson [00:05:03] Probably having license plate readers would have been helpful under these circumstances.
Andrew Weber [00:05:07] But a lot has changed since May. Just ask Maynard Police Chief Ryan Phipps. Since then, Phipp’s says there’s been a lot of frustration.
Ryan Phipps [00:05:16] Frustration with the defending of the company being placed on law enforcement and having law enforcement have to explain, you know, when another agency misused the system or anything, it seemed like it was always on us.
Andrew Weber [00:05:36] Phipps says flock as good as it is for helping cops catch criminals wasn’t worth the trouble the department stopped using the cameras last week
Ryan Phipps [00:05:44] The trust in my community is more important than that camera.
Andrew Weber [00:05:50] That sentiment has taken hold across the country and Texas, but state lawmakers haven’t put any guidelines in place for these cameras. Without those guidelines, privacy advocate Mackenzie Ryan says, another company is likely going to fill the flock-shaped hole in the market.
Mackenzie Ryan [00:06:06] Now what we’re going to see is a company that learned from Flock’s mistakes. They have better PR, they’re going have nicer language. They’re going find a way to facilitate the same things Flock does with a nice veneer.
Andrew Weber [00:06:18] Ryan says the issue of mass surveillance cuts across party lines, and she hopes lawmakers set up statewide guardrails for cities and counties and cops when they meet next year. I’m Andrew Weber in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:39] We are less than two months away from the 2026 midterm elections. At stake this year, whether Republicans will keep their hold on Washington, or lose control of Congress to the Democrats. With so much on the line, the GOP is heading down to Texas. The Republican National Committee’s first ever midterm party convention is this week in Dallas. It’ll feature a slew of candidates who are on the ballot this fall, plus one big name that isn’t, that’s President Donald Trump. To many, the RNC choosing Texas for this convention makes sense. We’re home to one of the year’s most watched U.S. Senate races, and arguably as important, Texas is a top source for GOP campaign cash. The Texas newsroom’s Blaise Ganey reports on what makes the state such a Republican fundraising powerhouse, and what motivates the party’s donors, both large and small.
Blaise Gainey [00:07:30] RNC organizers say they expect 20,000 people at the American Airlines Center in Dallas this week, and no matter how far they’ve traveled to attend, those Republicans will be walking in the door well aware of Texas’ importance to the party. Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994, and Republicans have won majority of Texas congressional seats since the 2004 election. But the state provides the party with much more than millions of reliably read voters. Brandon Rottinghouse is a political scientist with the University of Houston. Here, he says the GLP has a uniquely powerful donor network.
Brandon Rottinghaus [00:08:12] No other state where there’s such a convergence of ideology and money as Texas.
Blaise Gainey [00:08:19] Money from oil, gas, and energy are a big part of it. Many of the state’s wealthiest Republican donors made their fortunes in the industry. That group includes names you’ve likely heard before, Tim Dunn, Ferris Wilkes, Jeffrey Hildebrand, Kelsey Warren, and more. Rottinghouse says other big Republican donors from Texas sit at the top of the State’s real estate, finance, and business sectors.
Brandon Rottinghaus [00:08:41] Texas is the epicenter financially of so many different industries and so many big money players are involved in Texas.
Blaise Gainey [00:08:52] From the start of 2025 through July of this year, nearly one-third of the Republican National Committee’s itemized individual contributions came from Texas, almost $29 million. But what motivates people to give? I wanted to talk to some Republican mega-donors for this story. I emailed and called more than two dozen. While I couldn’t get any billionaires or millionaires on the phone, one of them did write back to my email, while they declined a formal interview. The donor wrote, quote, as a traditional Republican, I feel it’s a part of citizenship to be somewhat involved in who we choose to lead our state. Republican strategist, Brendan Steinhauser says, people’s reasons for giving vary.
Brandon Rottinghaus [00:09:34] Typically, it is a combination of they do support the agenda, they support the platform and the president, but also they’re looking for access and so money helps open doors, there’s no secret in that.
Blaise Gainey [00:09:45] But he stresses that giving a large amount doesn’t guarantee you’ll get what you want. Steinhauser says the hope truly is that they will at least be able to provide their input on matters they care about. Of course, Texas isn’t just home to a booming economy and wealthy financiers and oil executives who will get out their checkbooks. It’s also home to lot of people, period, including more than six million who voted for Trump in 2024. Even if just a fraction of those voters give to the RNC or Republican campaigns. That adds up. These smaller dollar donors are also more willing to talk to a reporter, like Rebecca Trahan, a finance executive who lives in Katy and does work as a Republican strategist.
Rebecca Trahan [00:10:26] I first donated to the Republican National Committee, I think I was 19 years old.
Blaise Gainey [00:10:34] Back in the early 90s.
Rebecca Trahan [00:10:35] And I didn’t have a lot back then, but I wanted to start contributing and I’ve donated ever since.
Blaise Gainey [00:10:42] Trahan says while it’s true some people do donate simply for access and to influence policies, that’s mostly a mindset for the big guys.
Rebecca Trahan [00:10:50] I would say people like that are more on the fringe, they’re not the average person.
Blaise Gainey [00:10:54] For Houston small-dollar Republican donor Tom Slocum, who’s an oil and gas consultant. It’s definitely skin in the game. Giving is less about access than personal investment.
Tom Slocum [00:11:04] You helped elect this person with your time and your treasure. Even if it’s $20, you’re a lot more likely to go vote.
Blaise Gainey [00:11:14] That combination of wealthy contributors and committed small-dollar donors helps explain why Texas remains a Republican fundraising powerhouse and an attractive destination for the RNC. I’m Blaise Gainey in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:30] And you’re listening to community powered public radio. This is Austin Signal right here on KUT News. We’re thankful you’re spending your Tuesday here with us. Hope you’re staying cool out there. We are still expecting triple digit temps all week long. Maybe a break next week, maybe. If it does happen, we’ll keep you updated right here on Kut and on Austin Signal. We’ve got more show for you after this break.
Korey Pereira [00:13:02] This is Corey Pereira, Audio Area Head here at UTRTF, and you are listening to Austin Signal. So specifically Foley involves watching a picture on the screen and having a Foley artist perform those actions you see. So I’d say the biggest misconception is that when you watch a film, all the sounds you’re hearing were captured on set. But the reality is a set is a really noisy place. It’s then in post-production that the world begins to sound like what you hear when you go down to a movie theater or turn on Netflix. All right, we are now standing on the brand new-ish Foley Stage here at Texas Moody. So a Foley stage is a space where our students can come in, look up at the screen, and then be able to perform all the actions the characters are doing on screen. So I’d say the coolest part of this is we do actually have multiple Foley pits. So if a student wants to walk in the dirt, we have a box where they can walk on dirt, and if they need to walk on leaves… They can do that too. The back of the room, we have multiple baker’s racks full of hundreds and hundreds of props. The idea here is we kind of gave the students a starting point so that they can. Find a number of sounds they need for their given project. So whether you need a motorcycle helmet. Or a purse, or an old school telephone. Our students can do that right here in this space. When someone has a specific project where they have a straw hat in it, they’re going to go to Goodwill or their closet and find a straw Hat and we encourage them to leave that here for the next students that come into the space. This is Corey Pereira, sound artist and audio area head here at the University of Texas at Austin, and this is Austin Signal.
Jerry Quijano [00:15:24] We’ve all heard the saying that the customer is always right, but for Chef John Escamilla of Vecinos Tacos in East Austin, one hint, a subtle suggestion from a regular, opened up an entire community for a budding business. In this excerpt from the latest episode of the Tacos of Texas podcast, host Mando Rayos spoke with Escamillas and Vecino’s regular Imad Ahmed about the journey to making a halal taco truck, when at first the primary goal of Vesinos was to be one of the few taco places in Austin to make their own tortillas, complimenting the South Texas flavors and family recipes.
John Escamilla [00:16:01] So, Puffy Tacos was originally, like, I didn’t realize how big of a thing it was in San Antonio. Yeah, it’s a thing. It’s a, it is a thing, but we got it from, well, at least our inspiration was more of like the Mexico City fraud quesadilla. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. And then we kind of merged it with the Puffy Taco and kind of made a blend of those two things. And that’s where like Manny’s parents came in, like they’re, you know, his mom and all that, they came in and like changed our flavors and kind did some things. We had the voila touch.
Mando Rayo [00:16:29] Yeah, yeah.
John Escamilla [00:16:29] On everything. So we, we, we were trying to see your hands. They, they don’t look like to, to a boiler to me. No, but we had the moms come in and the grandmas and they’re like, all right, come tweak everything before we open. So we definitely, a lot of recipes from them that we got, you know, from everything.
Mando Rayo [00:16:47] You might tell me a little bit about yourself, your community, and what drew you to Vecinos.
Ihmad Ahmed [00:16:52] Yeah, absolutely. So Imad Ahmed, I’ve lived in Austin for 26 years. I was born and raised in West Virginia, a little brown hillbilly there. And I moved to East Austin about three years ago. And, you know, one thing I always wanted, so growing up, I used to watch Cheers, if you remember. There’s a bar where everyone knows your name. So this idea of having a place close to you, a business close to where you can go and get breakfast or lunch or whatnot or a snack. And they know you and they’re part of your community and they know your regular order or whatnot always really appealed to me and I never had it. So I was very eager to see this business open. And when it finally happened, I was just very excited and I was probably one of the first customers you guys had. Oh my God, that’s awesome. And went there and tried the food and it was amazing. The one thing that really excited me was the homemade tortillas, because the few places where I’ve had that, I’ve loved it. Being Pakistani, I grew up eating paratas, which are homemade flatbread. And so homemade flour tortillas can often taste like that, right? And I remember asking if they had lard in them, which is a very common thing in many parts of Mexico from what I’ve seen. And he said they did have lard. Pork lard, pork lard exactly. So I could eat them. I tried everything else. Not the fake lard? Yeah, yeah. I had the corn tortillas and I loved it, but it was a little bit disappointed inside that I couldn’t try these amazing tortillas, a lot of tortillas that others were eating. And so that’s kind of how it started and then it kind of evolved from there over the course of weeks, months.
Mando Rayo [00:18:40] So you started knocking on his door, hey, the trailer opened, I got an idea for you. How did that happen?
Ihmad Ahmed [00:18:47] I think I mentioned it, it was probably tongue in cheek. I’m like, this guy, you know, these guys are not gonna change the recipe for me. But like, it doesn’t hurt to mention it. And sure enough, I think a few weeks later, I remember going up to the food truck and I think it was John that was telling me, hey, we’ve been messing around with a few recipes without lard and I thinking we’re gonna have some flour tortillas without lards. Now it’s just ecstatic. I couldn’t believe that these guys were even doing it. Yeah, I couldn’t believe that it had anything to do with my request or not. But it was amazing. And sure enough, when they finally came out with it and I got to try it, it was amazing. It was just like the parathas I used to have, nothing like the store-bought flour tortillas that you have in a lot of other places. I already enjoyed the food, but that’s when I kind of became hooked.
Mando Rayo [00:19:36] So is the customer always right?
John Escamilla [00:19:40] He’s not, he’s not just a customer, right? Family now. That’s cool. He knows. Yeah. It was, I think it was a couple of weeks that we were messing around and, you know, that was part of the, the Abuela disagreement where they’re like, what do you mean? You’re taking a lot out of it.
Speaker 17 [00:19:53] I don’t know.
John Escamilla [00:19:54] Trust me oh man it sounds like a like a telenovela
Speaker 17 [00:19:58] What happened, bro?
Mando Rayo [00:19:59] That’s still an argument. The idea I was creating all this drama. It’s still a discussion every now and then, but, you know, they’re happy. No. So, okay, so let’s break it down. If somebody doesn’t know what halal is, because, you go to your truck and you can see it, right? You haven’t written fully halal. For somebody that doesn’t what that is, what is the definition of halal?
Ihmad Ahmed [00:20:21] Sure. I’m absolutely no religious expert, but it’s kind of the Muslim equivalent to what kosher meat might be. And so it’s a humane way of slaughtering animals, where essentially the animal is cut in a way where all the blood is drawn out as quickly as possible, and God’s name is mentioned during the time of slaughter and it’s done in the most humane way possible. So it’s something that’s common in Muslim tradition, to eat meat that’s prepared this way. There is disagreement where some Muslims will eat meat without it being slaughtered in a halal way or in another term for a zabiyah in a zabiya way. And some are very strict with that.
Mando Rayo [00:21:06] And John, so tell us how were you able to, I guess, change your menu in that way?
John Escamilla [00:21:12] It honestly wasn’t the heart of a change. The hardest change was the prep side of things, right? But as far as changing, the marinade stayed the same, the flavor stayed the the same. There was no real difficult change other than taking the lard out of the tortillas.
Mando Rayo [00:21:28] Yeah, yeah, the lard, because the pork is part of that.
John Escamilla [00:21:31] Yeah, so it’s no pork. We have no pork, so beef chorizo, beef bacon, everything is either beef or chicken. And we’ve played around with some fish. We’ve played with a couple different things. And Ahmad’s been a couple tester on all of them. Thank you. It’s my pleasure. You always need a good taste tester.
Speaker 17 [00:21:51] Only I could do that full-time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right.
John Escamilla [00:21:54] Then you end up being like me. So the change wasn’t that bad. Like it really wasn’t, you know, it was just the work. And then they went behind it. And once we got in that rhythm, it’s pretty, it was pretty smooth sailing from there. Like beef cheek, Halal beef cheek is the hardest thing to find. So when we decided to slowly start committing, okay, we changed the chicken, that’s easy. Um, got some beef. We can do that. Well, we started having some scraps, like, okay. We can make our own chorizo. We can our own sausage, um, which we started doing. And then it’s like, well, We had a conversation with Ahmaud and we did this event at the mosque.
Ihmad Ahmed [00:22:30] Mm-hmm.
John Escamilla [00:22:31] And, you know, our conversation was like, dude, we can’t commit to Fulahilal because we cannot find beef cheeks. And I don’t want to make barbacoa that just throw random things in there. I want beef cheeks, and he’s like, okay, we were at an event, he’s like, give me five minutes. Five minutes later, somebody else came. The rancher. Are you serious? I was going to do everything to help. You got a barbacore hook that we don’t know about? He brings me this rancher and I’m like, we’re really busy at this event. And I’m, like, okay, but I gotta get this conversation done. Yeah, yeah. Manny’s looking at me, he’s like, bro, I need your help, like come on. But the rancher comes and is like, okay, you need it? Give me five minutes. Then the butcher shop came. And so within 15 minutes, we had Mamad and two others and they were just like, okay, we can get it to you. What’s your price? I was like, look, this is our price. This is what we’re trying to get.
Mando Rayo [00:23:24] So wait a minute, you’re saying that a Mexican, a Muslim, and a rancher walk into a bar. Exactly. Exactly.
John Escamilla [00:23:34] That’s exactly it.
Mando Rayo [00:23:34] Oh my god.
John Escamilla [00:23:37] It’s crazy. It’s very much like the Latin community, right? Because it’s so close knit, so much family. And everybody knows that everybody, right, they all like, let me help you out, let me help. And that’s, you know, part of me felt at home with that conversation or that time because that’s exactly how it’s like in our, you know, the tight knit, I’m a big family guy, like that’s how it is.
Jerry Quijano [00:24:00] That was Mando Rayo, host of the Tacos of Texas podcast, talking with Chef John Escamilla of Vecinos Tacos in East Austin, and his ultimate customer, Imad Ahmed. We’ll have a link to the full podcast in today’s show notes. One final item today, the Texas football team moved up one spot in this week’s AP poll, setting up this weekend’s matchup between the fourth ranked Longhorns and number one Ohio State. Kickoff this Saturday night is set for 6.30. We’re gonna have more about the big game later this week. But for now, that’s it for us today on Austin Signal. There’s more about stories we shared with you in today’s podcast, Show Notes, and at kut.org slash signal. Rene Chavez is our technical director, Alexandra Hart is our producer, and Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer. I’m your host, Jerry Keconnell. We’re going to be back at the same time tomorrow. We’ll talk to you then.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
