Convenience Big Store: League City's new surveillance cameras help track crime. But are there privacy concerns?

LCPD say its new cameras just track crime, but other groups worry about increased surveillance.

Remember the famous song by Rockwell? "I always feel like somebody's watching me - and I have no privacy…oh-oh."

In September, League City police finished installing the last of the 42 Flock cameras that will be snapping pictures of vehicle license plates as they travel along the roadways and intersections of the city.

The purpose of this technology is to make it easier for police to solve cases by identifying people they suspect are involved in nefarious activity or who they know are fleeing from criminal activity, like a person who snatched a purse from an elderly woman in a League City parking lot.

That's one example the LCPD cites.

The ACLU of Texas argues that this kind of technology also makes it easier for the government to know where we go and when, and that says a lot about who we are.

Is it a privacy or public safety issue?

The police point of view is that the technology is used strictly as a crime prevention tool that helps in investigations, and that - unless the vehicle belongs to someone doing something illegal - the information taken from these cameras and stored in a national database disappears after 30 days.

Maybe a better pop cultural reference is to paraphrase Mission Impossible: "This message will self-destruct in 30 days…"?

Read more about this $105K per year initiative and how flock cameras work here.

Yvette Orozco, Suburban reporter producer

yvette.orozco@houstonchronicle.com

Need to Know

Medals hang during the UIL State Cross Country Championships at Old Settlers Park, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, in Round Rock.

Photo by: Jason Fochtman/Staff Photographer

Here's the Bay Area, Houston-wide cross country UIL district meet schedule.

Find out when Bay Area and Pasadena ISD athletes compete with this schedule of the Houston-area high school cross country UIL district meet.

Education

Photo by: Susan Barber/Houston Chronicle

Vote for the Houston area's September Student of the Month.

Voting continues through Oct. 10 for September Student of the Month. Nominate a student in your community, and the winner will be highlighted on HoustonChronicle.com and in our newsletters.

Openings and Closings

Great Harvest Bakery & Café opened Sept. 29 in Friendswood.

This bakery has all kinds of baked goods - apple bread, cheddar bread, teacakes and more - and uses wheat from family-owned farms.

Address: 212 S. Friendswood Drive, Friendswood.

Shout out

Lutheran South Academy volleyball ace Kirra Musgrove ranks seventh in the Greater Houston area with ….76 aces. That's just one impressive stat listed alongside Musgrove's name.

Ted Dunnam writes how and why the junior - who has committed to Texas A&M - is expected to lead her team deep into post season this year in this profile.

One last thing …

You're never too far when there's a food festival that includes cosplay, anime, art and sumo wrestling: The two-day Otaku Food Festival in nearby Pearland has all of that and more.