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ORWELL INDEX
Approved Updated

Fort Bend County Sheriff, Constable Precinct 4 and Fort Bend County District Attorney | Flock Safety plate readers

Four county offices on Flock's network, a five-year subscription for the Sheriff approved without bidding, utility districts that buy the cameras for county officers to use, and 29 county permits for Flock cameras along county roads.

At a glance

The largest decision
23 January 2024, item 39F: an exemption from competitive bidding and a five-year Flock agreement for the Sheriff's Office, moved by Commissioner Andy Meyers, seconded by Commissioner Grady Prestage, 5-0. Revisited the same day to change the fund, and approved again 4-0 [5]
The cost
$77,500 a year, not to exceed $387,500 over five years [5] [6]
How many cameras
31 Flock Falcon plate reader cameras on the order form [6]
How long footage is kept
30 days, on the order form [6]
County offices with Flock access
The Sheriff's Office (2021), Constable Precinct 4 (2022), the District Attorney's Office (2023) and Environmental Health (2023) [1] [3] [4] [8]
Utility district agreements
Six items from October 2023 to June 2025 in which a Municipal Utility District contracts with Flock and the Sheriff's Office or Constable Precinct 4 is the user [9] [10] [11] [18] [19] [20] [16]
County right-of-way permits for Flock cameras
29, from October 2020 to December 2023, every one on the consent agenda [12] [13] [14]
Which agencies the county shares reads with
Not stated in any agreement or minutes we could read [5] [6]

How it happened

  1. Decision

    The first right-of-way permit

    On the consent agenda, the Court approves a permit for Flock Group Inc/Flock Safety "to install surveillance cameras along University Boulevard, LJ Parkway and Oilfield Road". 28 more permits naming Flock follow by December 2023. [12]

  2. Decision

    A data-sharing agreement for the Sheriff

    The Court approves a Memorandum of Understanding with Flock Group, Inc., "for sharing of license plate reader data with the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office", 5-0. The signed copy is a scan we could not read. [1]

  3. Procurement

    A state grant for plate readers

    On the consent agenda, the Sheriff's Office accepts $39,801.00 from the Office of the Governor's Justice Assistance Grant "for the License Plate Reader Project". [15]

  4. Decision

    A safety study

    The Court approves a Government Agency Study Customer Agreement with Flock Group Inc. "for the utilization of Flock Safety Cameras as part of a safety study", 5-0. [2]

  5. Expansion

    Constable Precinct 4 joins

    On the consent agenda, an agreement giving Constable Precinct 4 "access to Flock database of information collected by Flock surveillance cameras", for five years. [3]

  6. Context

    "Safety cameras"

    Every Flock permit before this date describes "surveillance cameras". From this meeting on, every one describes "safety cameras". [13] [14]

  7. Expansion

    The District Attorney joins

    On the consent agenda, the same kind of access for the District Attorney's Office, for five years. [4]

  8. Expansion

    The first utility district agreement

    A services agreement with Flock and Cinco Southwest Municipal Utility District No. 4, $36,000 paid by the district, with the Sheriff's Office authorized as the end user, 5-0. [9]

  9. Expansion

    Environmental Health joins

    A five-year agreement for the county's Environmental Health department to use Flock's platform "for investigative purposes", 5-0. [8] [7]

  10. Procurement

    A five-year subscription, without bidding

    The Court exempts the Flock agreement from competitive bidding, as protecting public health or safety and as a sole source, and approves it: 31 Falcon cameras, $77,500 a year, five years. [5] [6]

  11. Expansion

    A district buys ten cameras for a Constable

    On the consent agenda, an agreement under which Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District No. 146 buys Flock cameras "at no cost to Fort Bend County" and Constable Precinct 4 is the user. The attached order form is for ten Falcon cameras at $30,000 a year. [10] [11]

  12. Expansion

    The Sheriff added to a district's cameras

    An amendment to the agreement between the county, Flock and Cinco Municipal Utility District No. 12 adds the Sheriff as an authorized end user, 5-0. In December 2024 the Court approves a Government Agency Agreement with the same district giving the Sheriff's Office access, 5-0. [18] [19]

  13. Expansion

    Municipal Utility District No. 165

    A Flock services agreement with Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District No. 165, with services provided by Constable Precinct 4, 5-0. [20]

  14. Expansion

    The latest district agreement

    On the consent agenda, Municipal Utility District No. 194, again at no cost to the county, with Constable Precinct 4 as the user. [16]

  15. Expansion

    Portable cameras for Environmental Health

    On the consent agenda, a $27,000 transfer for Environmental Health that includes the "Flock Platform and 6 Falcon Flex's". Falcon Flex is Flock's portable plate reader. [17] [6]

Flock Safety sells plate reader cameras on a subscription. Each camera photographs passing vehicles and records the plate and the vehicle’s appearance, and the images go to Flock’s cloud, where agencies with access can search them. In Fort Bend County the Commissioners Court has put four county offices on that system and approved the purchase several different ways.

The Sheriff’s subscription

On 23 January 2024 the Court approved an agreement with Flock Safety for “a technology platform regarding a license plate reader camera and software subscription in an annual amount of $77,500 for a period of five (5) years for a total contract not to exceed $387,500”.

The same motion exempted the agreement from competitive bidding. The Court relied on two parts of the Texas Local Government Code: one for purchases needed to protect public health or safety, and one for items available from only one source. The signed agreement records that the first finding was made “based on the representations made by the Fort Bend County Sheriff in support of this Agreement”. Its second exhibit is a sole source letter written by Flock.

The order form lists 31 Flock Falcon cameras and Flock’s software platform, and gives the retention period as 30 days. The initial term is 60 months, with 24-month renewals.

This was not the Sheriff’s Office’s first Flock agreement. In June 2021 the Court approved a memorandum of understanding “for sharing of license plate reader data with the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office”. In December 2021 it approved an agreement “for the utilization of Flock Safety Cameras as part of a safety study”. The signed copies of both are scans with no readable text, so what they allow is a records question.

Other county offices on the network

In June 2022 the Court approved an agreement giving Constable Precinct 4 “access to Flock database of information collected by Flock surveillance cameras, in order to assist law enforcement”. In July 2023 it approved the same kind of agreement for the District Attorney’s Office. Both went through on the consent agenda, the block of items the Court approves in one motion without separate discussion.

In December 2023 the Court approved an agreement for the county’s Environmental Health department to use Flock’s platform “for investigative purposes”. The attached agreement describes recordings “stored for no longer than thirty (30) days”. In August 2025 a consent item moved money for Environmental Health to cover the “Flock Platform and 6 Falcon Flex’s”. Falcon Flex is Flock’s portable plate reader.

Utility districts pay, county officers use

Much of Fort Bend County’s growth is in subdivisions outside any city, served by Municipal Utility Districts, which are elected local boards that finance water, sewer and other services. Six times between October 2023 and June 2025 the Court approved an agreement in which a district contracts with Flock and a county law enforcement office is the one authorized to use the cameras.

The agreement with Municipal Utility District No. 146, approved on the consent agenda in April 2024, is the one whose attachment could be read in full. The district pays for ten Falcon cameras, $30,000 a year. The Constable Precinct 4 office is the “Authorized End User”, and the district agrees that it “will not utilize or access the Flock System” itself. The Court’s item says the arrangement is “at no cost to Fort Bend County”.

The other five name Cinco Southwest Municipal Utility District No. 4 (October 2023, $36,000, the Sheriff’s Office as user), Cinco Municipal Utility District No. 12 (two items in 2024, the Sheriff’s Office), and Fort Bend County Municipal Utility Districts No. 165 and No. 194 (2025, Constable Precinct 4).

Cameras on county roads

The county also controls what can be installed in the right of way along its roads. Between October 2020 and December 2023 the Court approved 29 permit applications naming Flock to install cameras along county roads, all of them on the consent agenda. Two were in 2020, 19 in 2022 and 8 in 2023. The applicants are Flock itself, Flock with a contractor, and once Flock with a homeowners’ association.

The permits name the applicant and the streets. They do not say who will use the cameras or search their images.

The wording of the permits changed partway through. Every Flock permit the Court approved up to 8 November 2022 describes “surveillance cameras”. Every one from 22 November 2022 onward describes “safety cameras”. The minutes do not say why.

What the record does not say

We could not find, in the Commissioners Court minutes from January 2019 to September 2026 or the agreements attached to them, where the Sheriff’s 31 cameras are, which agencies can search what Fort Bend County’s cameras record, or any plate reader use and audit policy presented to the Court.

Volunteers have mapped 729 plate readers in the county, and 647 of the county’s mapped devices record Flock Safety as the manufacturer. The county record does not say which of them belong to the Sheriff, a Constable, a utility district, a homeowners’ association or a city.

On the map

The community has mapped 729 devices of this type in the county on OpenStreetMap. These are community reports: the vendor and operator of each point are unverified, and none is confirmed to belong to this system. See them on the map →

Street names from reverse geocoding — © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

What we do not know

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 Fort Bend County and how public comment works there.

How to show up in Fort Bend 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. 1.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 22 June 2021, item 42A · Meeting record · · accessed
  2. 2.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 7 December 2021, item 35B · Meeting record · · accessed
  3. 3.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 28 June 2022, consent item 11 · Meeting record · · accessed
  4. 4.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 25 July 2023, consent item 12 · Meeting record · · accessed
  5. 5.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 23 January 2024, item 39F · Meeting record · · accessed
  6. 6.
    Agreement for Flock Safety Platform, signed, with Flock's order form and sole source letter, attached to item 39F · Primary document · · accessed
  7. 7.
    Data Sharing Memorandum of Understanding between Flock Group, Inc. and Fort Bend County for Environmental Health, as attached to item 38A · Primary document · · accessed
  8. 8.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 19 December 2023, item 38A · Meeting record · · accessed
  9. 9.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 10 October 2023, item 31 · Meeting record · · accessed
  10. 10.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 23 April 2024, consent item 11 · Meeting record · · accessed
  11. 11.
    Flock Group Inc. Services Agreement with Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District No. 146 and the Fort Bend County Pct. 4 Constable's Office, signed, attached to consent item 11 · Primary document · · accessed
  12. 12.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 13 October 2020, consent item 12G · Meeting record · · accessed
  13. 13.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 25 October 2022, consent item 10 · Meeting record · · accessed
  14. 14.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 22 November 2022, consent item 10 · Meeting record · · accessed
  15. 15.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 23 November 2021, consent item 16C · Meeting record · · accessed
  16. 16.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 10 June 2025, consent item 10B · Meeting record · · accessed
  17. 17.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 12 August 2025, consent item · Meeting record · · accessed
  18. 18.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 23 July 2024, item 30B · Meeting record · · accessed
  19. 19.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 17 December 2024, item 38 · Meeting record · · accessed
  20. 20.
    Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, minutes, 25 March 2025, item 23C · Meeting record · · accessed

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