El Paso County Sheriff and El Paso County District Attorney | The West Texas Anti-Gang Center
El Paso County's Sheriff and District Attorney are constituent agencies of a shared intelligence facility with the FBI, the DEA, ICE Homeland Security Investigations, the ATF and the Texas Department of Public Safety. The Commissioners Court joined it in 2016 and renewed in 2019, both times inside the consent agenda, both times at no cost.
At a glance
- What it is
- The Texas Anti-Gang Center of El Paso, which the county's own addendum records is the same facility as the West Texas Anti-Gang Center. One of four such centers in Texas, alongside Bexar, Harris and Dallas counties [2] [3]
- When the county joined
- 15 August 2016, by memorandum of understanding, county contract 2016-0338, approved as item H of the consent agenda on 25 July 2016 for a term of three years [1] [4]
- When it renewed
- 22 April 2019, Addendum No. 1 with Amendments, county contract 2019-0214, approved as item E of the consent agenda for another three years [2] [5]
- Who else is a party
- The El Paso Police Department, the City of El Paso, the Texas Department of Public Safety West Region, the FBI El Paso Division, the DEA El Paso Division, ICE Homeland Security Investigations El Paso, the ATF Dallas Field Division, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, the County of El Paso and the El Paso County District Attorney [2]
- What technology is in the building
- Not stated. The county's own agenda item describes the center as providing a common physical environment equipped with the most advanced technology, and says nothing further [2]
- What data goes in, and for how long
- Not stated in any county record we read [6]
- Who may query it
- Not stated. The 2019 addendum lowers the threshold for admitting a new agency from unanimous to majority approval of the Executive Board [2]
How it happened
- Decision
Joined on consent
Item H of the consent agenda approved the Texas Anti-Gang Center memorandum of understanding between the District Attorney's Office and the other constituent agencies, to work together against gangs and other criminal organizations in the region, at no cost to the county and for three years. The consent block was moved by Commissioner Leon, seconded by Commissioner Perez, and carried with the County Judge and all four Commissioners voting aye. [1] [4]
- Decision
Renewed, renamed and made easier to join
Item E of the consent agenda approved Addendum No. 1 with Amendments. The addendum extends the center for another three years, records that the Texas Anti-Gang Center of El Paso and the West Texas Anti-Gang Center are one and the same facility, and changes the vote needed to admit a new participating agency from unanimous approval of the Executive Board to a majority. The consent block carried five to nothing. [2] [5]
The El Paso County Commissioners Court has twice put the county inside a shared law enforcement intelligence facility, and on both occasions the item was in the consent agenda, the batch a Commissioners Court disposes of in one motion.
What the Court approved
On 25 July 2016 item H asked the Court to approve “the Texas Anti-Gang Center Memorandum of Understanding between the District Attorney’s Office and other constituent agencies to work together to combat gangs and other criminal organizations in our region”. The item said the agreement was at no cost to the county and would last three years. It carried with the rest of the consent block, on a motion by Commissioner Leon seconded by Commissioner Perez, with the County Judge and all four Commissioners voting aye.
On 22 April 2019 item E renewed it. The addendum filed with that item does three things worth reading. It extends the center another three years. It records that the Texas Anti-Gang Center of El Paso and the West Texas Anti-Gang Center are, in the document’s words, “one and the same facility”. And it changes the rule for letting a new agency in: where the original agreement required unanimous approval of the Executive Board, the addendum makes a majority enough.
Who is in it
The signature pages of the 2019 addendum name the parties. The El Paso Police Department and the City of El Paso. The Texas Department of Public Safety, West Region. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, El Paso Division. The Drug Enforcement Administration, El Paso Division. The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, El Paso. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Dallas Field Division. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, the County of El Paso, and the El Paso County District Attorney.
The county appears three times on that list, once for the Sheriff, once for the District Attorney and once for the County Judge signing for the county itself.
What is in the building
The county’s own agenda item gives one description of how the center works. It says the constituent agencies combat gangs and other criminal organizations in the region “by providing common physical environment equipped with the most advanced technology”. The District Attorney’s Office participates through the Border Prosecution Unit, a network of state prosecutors across the 48 Texas border counties which the District Attorney directed.
That sentence is the most the county’s published record says about the technology. There is no equipment list, no software name, no data retention period, no statement of who may run a query and no audit. A resident of El Paso County reading the record their own Commissioners Court publishes can establish that the county is a member of a federal and state intelligence center and cannot establish anything about what it holds.
Two of the parties are worth naming for what they do rather than for how they were approved. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations is a federal immigration enforcement agency. The Texas Department of Public Safety runs the statewide license plate reader database the county’s own grant conditions require its readers to feed.
What we do not know
- What systems, databases and software the center runs, and which of them the county's Sheriff and District Attorney can query.
- What data the county puts in, how long it is kept, and under what policy.
- Whether the center operates a criminal intelligence system subject to 28 C.F.R. Part 23, and whether it has been audited.
- Which agencies have joined since the 2019 addendum lowered the threshold.
- What relationship, if any, the center has to the El Paso Multi-Agency Tactical Response Information eXchange, the fusion center the EFF Atlas of Surveillance lists in this city.
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 El Paso County and how public comment works there.
How to show up in El Paso 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. El Paso County Commissioners Court, agenda, 25 July 2016, consent item H · Meeting record · · accessed
- 2.
- 3.
- 4. El Paso County Commissioners Court, minutes, 25 July 2016, the consent agenda vote · Meeting record · · accessed
- 5. El Paso County Commissioners Court, minutes, 22 April 2019, the consent agenda vote · Meeting record · · accessed
- 6.
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