Livingston Parish Council Sends Right-of-Way Surveillance Camera Ban Back to Committee

First reported: August 28, 2026 · 5 sources

On Thursday, the Livingston Parish Council voted 6-3 to return Ordinance 26-20 to committee rather than adopt it. The measure would have prohibited private surveillance cameras, including automated license plate readers, from parish-maintained rights-of-way such as roadsides and drainage ditches. Sponsor Ryan Chavers (District 2) cited AI surveillance and resident privacy concerns, while other members said the draft needed clearer language and workable enforcement, particularly regarding whether it would apply to already-installed cameras.

Why this matters

The debate illustrates how questions of property ownership, permitting, and retroactive enforcement can complicate local attempts to regulate privately installed ALPRs, and officials in neighboring St. Tammany Parish are reportedly watching the outcome as a possible model.

Key facts

Council voted 6-3 to send Ordinance 26-20 back to the ordinance committee instead of adopting it; the committee had voted unanimously on August 5 to advance the draft, which was introduced August 13.
Councilman Garry Talbert, who opposed the ordinance, said the parish can restrict cameras on parish-owned property but that rights-of-way may be owned by others even where the parish holds usage rights.
Chavers said his aim was not a parish-wide ban on Flock cameras but to stop unpermitted cameras on rights-of-way outside subdivisions; he also said HOAs were pressuring council members before the vote.
Roughly a week earlier, a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputy was fired after an internal audit found he used agency Flock access to search his ex-fiancée's license plate more than 3,000 times between 2024 and 2026, according to KIII-TV.
Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley announced mid-August policy changes including required case-number logging for searches, automated flagging of unusual search patterns, and cutting default data retention from 30 days to seven.

Sources

This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.

Livingston Parish Delays Flock Camera Ban Vote (Hoodline, August 28, 2026)
Livingston Parish Council put effort to ban Flock cameras in parish right - of - ways on hold (wbrz.com, August 28, 2026)
Livingston Parish Council debates Flock camera ban (Newsbreak, August 30, 2026)
Livingston Parish council delays vote on Flock camera ordinance (WAFB, August 28, 2026)
Livingston Parish council delays vote on Flock camera ordinance (Newsbreak, August 28, 2026)

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About this record

BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.

Updated September 1, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.