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Harris County Sheriff | License plate readers and sound detection

Harris County has bought plate readers and sound detection from Flock Group since June 2023, raising the annual figure from $223,000 to $868,975. The one request the Court did not approve was the largest: $2,000,000, which drew No Action in March 2026.

At a glance

The award
6 June 2023, on the basis of best proposal meeting requirements, for a license plate reader and sound detection system, with four one-year renewal options. County reference 220336 [1]
Current renewal
$868,975, for 6 June 2026 to 5 June 2027, approved 28 May 2026 [11]
The year before
$223,000 for 2025-26, then approved amendments of $424,535 in June 2025 and $225,000 in January 2026 [5] [6] [10]
Refused
A $2,000,000 amendment, asked for on 19 March 2026. The County Clerk's results for that meeting record item 237 as "No Action" [8] [9]
Scope
Amended 9 July 2026 to "supplement certain terms and clarify that the agreement is available for use County-wide", at no additional cost [13]
The sound detection half
The contract is written for a "license plate reader and sound detection system" throughout, from the June 2023 award to the 2026-27 renewal [1] [11]
Number of devices
not stated in any item in the county record we read [1]
Published policy
none found. Texas has no statute requiring a plate reader usage policy to be published, and no county policy appears in the Commissioners Court record [1]

How it happened

  1. Procurement

    The contract is awarded

    The Court approves an award on the basis of best proposal meeting requirements and executes an agreement with Flock Group, Inc. for a license plate reader and sound detection system for Harris County, running to 5 June 2024 with four one-year renewal options. The County Clerk's results for the meeting list no exception for the item, which under the county's own rule means it was approved as presented. [1] [2]

  2. Expansion

    First amendment, $62,500

    An amendment and renewal option adds $62,500 and extends the system to 5 June 2025. Approved as presented. [3] [4]

  3. Decision

    An amendment changed on the floor, and back pay reaching before the contract

    Taken as a supplemental item, an amendment posted at $420,975 for additional plate readers and sound detection equipment, which also provides full compensation for services already provided to Precinct 3. The Clerk's results record the item as changed: to "in the additional amount of $424,535" and "from January 6, 2023 - April 11, 2025". The county's own contract was awarded in June 2023, so the approved period pays for plate reader services delivered to a precinct five months before the county had a contract. [6] [7]

  4. Denied

    The Court does not act on $2,000,000

    An amendment in the additional amount of $2,000,000 reaches the agenda under Purchasing. The County Clerk's results for the meeting list item 237 with the exception "No Action". It is the largest single sum asked for on this contract and the only Flock item in five years of agendas that the Court did not approve as presented. No later agenda in the record we read brings it back. [8] [9]

  5. Decision

    Renewal at $868,975

    The renewal for 6 June 2026 to 5 June 2027 is approved as presented at $868,975, about four times the previous year's renewal figure. [11] [12]

  6. Expansion

    County-wide, at no additional cost

    An amendment supplements certain terms to clarify that the agreement is available for use county-wide, at no additional cost. Approved as presented. [13] [14]

A contract that grew four times over in one year

Harris County has its own plate reader network, and the paperwork calls it something slightly broader: a “license plate reader and sound detection system”. The Commissioners Court awarded it to Flock Group, Inc. on 6 June 2023, on the basis of best proposal meeting requirements, with four one-year renewal options. Everything since has been an amendment or a renewal of that one agreement, which the county files under reference 220336.

The money is the clearest part of the record. The renewal for 2025-26 was approved at $223,000. The renewal for 2026-27 was approved at $868,975. Between those two figures sat two approved amendments, $424,535 in June 2025 and $225,000 in January 2026.

The largest request is the one that failed

On 19 March 2026 the Court was asked for an amendment of $2,000,000 on the same contract, for the contract year that was about to end. It is by a wide margin the biggest single sum in this contract’s history.

The County Clerk’s results for that meeting list item 237, Purchasing, with a one-word exception: No Action.

This matters for reading any Harris County agenda. The county approves its agenda in bulk, and the Clerk publishes a short list of what was pulled out. An agenda alone would have shown a $2,000,000 purchase. The results list shows that the Court declined to act on it. Nothing in the agendas through September 2026 asks again.

Back pay that predates the contract

One amendment carries a detail worth reading twice. In June 2025 the Court took a supplemental item adding money for more equipment, which also provided full compensation for plate reader services already delivered to Precinct 3. As posted, the back-pay period began in December 2023. The Clerk’s results record that the Court changed both numbers: the amount to $424,535, and the period to begin on 6 January 2023.

The county’s own contract with Flock was awarded in June 2023. The approved amendment therefore pays for plate reader service delivered to a precinct about five months before the county had a county-level contract at all. The record does not explain the arrangement that covered those months, and this page does not guess at one.

What the record does not say

It does not say how many cameras there are. Five years of agendas name dollar figures, contract periods and a vendor, and never a device count or a location. The volunteer map records 4,076 license plate readers in Harris County, most of them attributed to Flock Safety, but a mapped camera is a community report and cannot be matched to a line in this contract.

It does not say what the sound detection half covers, or what it costs separately from the plate readers.

And it does not say what the rules are. Texas has no statute requiring a plate reader usage policy to be written down or published, and no such policy for any Harris County agency appears in the Commissioners Court record. Whether one exists is a question for a Public Information Act request, not for this 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, 6 June 2023, item 249 · Meeting record · · accessed
  2. 2.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 06-06-23 · Primary document · · accessed
  3. 3.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 23 April 2024, item 337 · Meeting record · · accessed
  4. 4.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 04-23-24 · Primary document · · accessed
  5. 5.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 22 May 2025, item 153 · Meeting record · · accessed
  6. 6.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 12 June 2025, item 364 · Meeting record · · accessed
  7. 7.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 06-12-25 · Primary document · · accessed
  8. 8.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 19 March 2026, item 237 · Meeting record · · accessed
  9. 9.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 03-19-26 · Primary document · · accessed
  10. 10.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 29 January 2026, item 230 · Meeting record · · accessed
  11. 11.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 28 May 2026, item 86 · Meeting record · · accessed
  12. 12.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 05-28-26 · Primary document · · accessed
  13. 13.
    Harris County Commissioners Court agenda, 9 July 2026, item 253 · Meeting record · · accessed
  14. 14.
    Harris County Clerk, Results of the Commissioners Court Meeting of 07-09-26 · Primary document · · accessed

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