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Harris County Sheriff and Constable Precinct 4 | Access to plate readers bought by local districts

Six times between May 2024 and February 2026, Commissioners Court approved an agreement between a Harris County law enforcement agency, Flock Group and a local special-purpose district, at no cost to the county. The two most recent say what that buys: access to cameras the district purchased.

At a glance

Agreements approved
Six, between 7 May 2024 and 12 February 2026, each approved as presented [1] [3] [5] [7] [9] [11]
The districts
East Aldine Management District, and Harris County Municipal Utility Districts 120, 290, 457, 358 and 468 [1] [3] [5] [7] [9] [11]
Who gets access
The Sheriff's Office in four of them, the Constable of Precinct 4 in two [1] [3] [5] [7] [9] [11]
What the four earlier items say
Only the parties and the price. They name the district and Flock Group, Inc. and state that the agreement is at no cost to the county, without describing what it permits [1] [3] [5] [7]
Cost to the county
None. The four earlier items say "at no cost to Harris County" or "at no cost to the county" on their face [1] [3] [5] [7]
What access means
"to access real-time notifications and data from FLOCK cameras purchased by MUD 358" (the October 2025 item; the February 2026 item uses the same wording for the Sheriff's Office and MUD No. 468) [9] [11]
FlockOS
A memorandum of understanding for access to Flock's technology platform and FlockOS was approved on 29 January 2026 [13]
How many cameras this reaches
not stated in any of the six items [9]
How many districts have bought cameras
not stated. Six agreements reached the Court; the county record we read holds no register of districts that operate cameras [9]

How it happened

  1. Decision

    The first one

    The Court authorizes the County Judge to execute, for and on behalf of the Sheriff's Office, an agreement with the East Aldine Management District and Flock Group, Inc. at no cost to Harris County. Approved as presented. [1] [2]

  2. Decision

    Municipal Utility District No. 120

    The same construction, this time with a Municipal Utility District: an agreement between the Sheriff's Office, MUD No. 120 and Flock Group, Inc., at no cost to Harris County. Approved as presented. [3] [4]

  3. Decision

    Municipal Utility District No. 290, for a Constable

    An agreement for and on behalf of the Constable of Precinct 4 with MUD No. 290 and Flock Group, Inc., at no cost to the county. Approved as presented. [5] [6]

  4. Decision

    Municipal Utility District No. 457

    A third district agreement for the Sheriff's Office in five months, at no cost to Harris County. Approved as presented. [7] [8]

  5. Decision

    The item that says what the arrangement does

    An agreement between MUD 358, Harris County Constable Precinct 4 and Flock Group, Inc. "to allow the Constable of Precinct 4 to access real-time notifications and data from FLOCK cameras purchased by MUD 358". Where the earlier items said only that an agreement would be executed, this one describes the transaction. Approved as presented. [9] [10]

  6. Expansion

    FlockOS

    The Court approves a memorandum of understanding with Flock Group, Inc. doing business as Flock Safety for access to Flock's technology platform and FlockOS, the company's operations software. Approved as presented. [13] [14]

  7. Decision

    Municipal Utility District No. 468

    The sixth agreement, and the second to spell out that it allows the Sheriff's Office to access real-time notifications and data from Flock cameras the district purchased. Approved as presented. [11] [12]

The cheapest way to grow a camera network

A county that wants more plate readers can buy them. Harris County does that, under a separate contract with the same company. But six times between May 2024 and February 2026, it did something else: it signed a three-party agreement with a local district and Flock Group, at no cost to itself.

The district is, in five of the six, a Harris County Municipal Utility District. MUDs are local government bodies with elected boards, created to finance water, sewer and drainage for subdivisions outside city limits. The sixth is the East Aldine Management District, which is a different kind of body. The county party is the Sheriff’s Office in four and the Constable of Precinct 4 in two.

What the items say

The first four are short. The August 2024 item reads, in full:

Request that the County Judge execute for and on behalf of Harris County Sheriff’s Office an agreement with Harris County Municipal Utility District No. 120 and Flock Group Inc. at no cost to Harris County.

That is the entire description a Commissioner had in front of them. It names the parties and the price, and the price is nothing.

The later two say more. The October 2025 agreement with MUD 358 is

to allow the Constable of Precinct 4 to access real-time notifications and data from FLOCK cameras purchased by MUD 358

and the February 2026 agreement uses the same construction for the Sheriff’s Office and MUD No. 468. Same arrangement, described.

Why this is the mechanism worth watching

Two things follow from it, and neither requires anyone to have done anything improper.

The first is that the county’s camera coverage grows without the county’s camera budget growing. A line item is how a resident finds out what their government bought. These agreements have no line item, because there is nothing to pay.

The second is that, in the two agreements that describe themselves, the cameras were bought by the district rather than by the county. What reached Commissioners Court was not whether to have the cameras but whether a county agency may see what they record. On those two, by the time it was a county item, the cameras were already up.

In January 2026 the Court also approved a memorandum of understanding with Flock for access to the company’s technology platform and FlockOS, the software layer through which those feeds are watched.

What we do not know

Not how many cameras this reaches. Not what the agreements say beyond their titles, because the agreements themselves are not published with the agenda. Not how many of the county’s districts have bought cameras, only that six of their agreements reached the Court.

Those are records requests, and they are the first ones on this county’s page.

On the map

The community has mapped 4076 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 Harris County and how public comment works there.

How to show up in Harris 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.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 7 May 2024, item 272 · Meeting record · · accessed
  2. 2.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 05-07-24 · Primary document · · accessed
  3. 3.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 6 August 2024, item 24 · Meeting record · · accessed
  4. 4.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 08-06-24 · Primary document · · accessed
  5. 5.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 27 August 2024, item 19 · Meeting record · · accessed
  6. 6.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 08-27-24 · Primary document · · accessed
  7. 7.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 8 October 2024, item 33 · Meeting record · · accessed
  8. 8.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 10-08-24 · Primary document · · accessed
  9. 9.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 16 October 2025, item 219 · Meeting record · · accessed
  10. 10.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 10-16-25 · Primary document · · accessed
  11. 11.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 12 February 2026, item 275 · Meeting record · · accessed
  12. 12.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 02-12-26 · Primary document · · accessed
  13. 13.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 29 January 2026, item 100 · Meeting record · · accessed
  14. 14.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 01-29-26 · Primary document · · accessed

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