The Robert Gray Army Airfield camera system
Bell County is the contracting party for a $4,008,816 security camera system at Robert Gray Army Airfield and the Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport, paid for with a federal defense grant and contributions from Fort Hood and six cities.
At a glance
- Approved
- 11 February 2019, as Minute Order #078/19, a contract between the City of Killeen, Bell County and Unified Services of Texas for equipment and installation services [1]
- Amount
- $4,008,816 [1]
- Who paid
- The Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant awarded to Bell County in December 2017, together with contributions from Fort Hood, Bell County and the cities of Killeen, Copperas Cove, Temple, Belton, Harker Heights and Gatesville [1]
- What it covers
- Closed circuit television cameras and network infrastructure around the airfield perimeter, cameras at the ASR-11 and transmitter sites, cameras at entry control points 14 and 54 and Gate 19, head-end equipment for network management, and video signage [3]
- How many cameras
- Not stated in the minutes. The design documents are attachments the county publishes separately [1] [3]
- Who holds the recordings, and for how long
- Not stated in any of the agreements as the minutes record them [1] [2] [3]
- The vote
- Unanimous, on a motion by Commissioner John Driver seconded by Commissioner Bobby Whitson, in open session rather than on the consent agenda [1]
How it happened
- Procurement
An interlocal agreement with the City of Killeen
The Court approves an Interlocal Agreement with the City of Killeen for a Security Surveillance Project at Robert Gray Army Airfield, as Minute Order #151/18. Approved unanimously. [2]
- Procurement
An agreement with the Army, and a design contract
The Court approves a Memorandum of Agreement with United States Army Garrison Fort Hood on installing security surveillance systems at the airfield and at the Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport, and a professional services agreement with Garver, LLC for the perimeter cameras, network infrastructure, entry control point cameras and head-end equipment. Both unanimous. [3]
- Procurement
The $4,008,816 contract
The Court approves the installation contract with the City of Killeen and Unified Services of Texas, funded by the December 2017 federal defense grant and by contributions from Fort Hood and six cities. Approved unanimously in open session. [1]
- Procurement
An amendment, with no recorded outcome
The Court's agenda carries an amendment to the interlocal agreement for the project. The county published no minutes for this meeting, so what the Court did with it is not in its record. [4]
Bell County’s largest camera purchase does not stand on a county road. It stands around an Army airfield.
Robert Gray Army Airfield is an Army airfield, and the county’s agreement with the Army covers security surveillance systems there and at the Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport in the same sentence. The Court approved three agreements in April 2018 and February 2019 that put a camera system around the airfield, and Bell County is a party to all three.
What the Court approved
In April 2018 the Court signed an interlocal agreement with the City of Killeen for the project, a memorandum of agreement with United States Army Garrison Fort Hood covering the installation of security surveillance systems at both the airfield and the regional airport, and a professional services agreement with an engineering firm to design it. The minutes describe the design as closed circuit television cameras and network infrastructure around the perimeter of the airfield, with further cameras at the ASR-11 radar and transmitter sites, at entry control points 14 and 54 and at Gate 19, plus head-end equipment for network management and video signage.
On 11 February 2019 the Court approved the installation contract, between the City of Killeen, Bell County and Unified Services of Texas, for $4,008,816. The money is a Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant awarded to Bell County in December 2017, with contributions from Fort Hood, the county and the cities of Killeen, Copperas Cove, Temple, Belton, Harker Heights and Gatesville.
It passed unanimously in open session, not on the consent agenda. It is the only surveillance item in this county’s record that was taken up on its own.
What the record does not say
The minutes do not give a camera count, a coverage map, a retention period or an operator. The design documents and the executed contract are attachments the county files separately, and we have not read them. An amendment to the interlocal agreement appears on the agenda of 17 August 2020, and the county published no minutes for that meeting.
A camera network around a shared military and civilian airfield is not the same thing as a plate reader on a county road, and this page does not claim it is. What the record establishes is the size of it, who paid, and that eight local governments and the Army are all parties to a system nobody has published a description of.
What we do not know
- How many cameras the system has, and where they point.
- Whether any of them cover public roads or the civilian side of the Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport.
- Who holds the recordings, who may search them, and how long they are kept.
- What the August 2020 amendment changed.
- Whether the county, the City of Killeen or the Army operates the system day to day.
What you can do
Show up
Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have confirmed where each of them meets in Bell County and how public comment works there.
How to show up in Bell County →Protect yourself
Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.
Surveillance Self-Defense →Sources
- 1. Bell County Commissioners Court, minutes, 11 February 2019, Minute Order · Meeting record · · accessed
- 2. Bell County Commissioners Court, minutes, 9 April 2018, Minute Order · Meeting record · · accessed
- 3. Bell County Commissioners Court, minutes, 16 April 2018, Minute Orders · Meeting record · · accessed
- 4. Bell County Commissioners Court, agenda, 17 August 2020, item 6 · Meeting record · · accessed
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