Hidalgo County Sheriff | Surveillance towers
Hidalgo County has owned mobile surveillance towers since 2012 on a sole source declaration that has outlived the company it was written for, and in 2018 it let U.S. Customs and Border Protection put camera towers in a county park on the consent agenda.
At a glance
- Since when
- A sole source declaration for ICx Tactical Platforms approved 10 July 2012, transferred to FLIR Detection, Inc. in August 2015 when FLIR acquired ICx [1]
- How many
- Not stated. The 2015 declaration covers the towers "while the County owns and / or operates said towers" without naming a number, and the 2019 bid award states no quantity [1] [2]
- What they cost
- Not stated in the minutes. The 2019 purchase went to sealed bid and the award item names the winning vendor but not the price [2]
- What is on them
- The product line is thermal imaging. The county's Operation Stonegarden budget separately bought SkyCop towers that its own items describe as plate reader towers [1] [6]
- Federal camera towers on county land
- On 3 July 2018 the Court consented to U.S. Customs and Border Protection installing camera towers at Anzalduas Park, a county park in Precinct 3 [4] [5]
- How many federal towers, and what they carry
- Not stated. The item is two lines and names no number, no equipment and no term [4]
How it happened
- Procurement
A sole source declaration changes hands
The Court approves a sole source declaration for FLIR Detection, Inc., formerly ICx Tactical Platforms, for SkyWatch Mobile Surveillance Towers and all related equipment and service. It transfers a declaration approved on 10 July 2012 and is to remain in force while the county owns or operates the towers, or until revoked. [1]
- Decision
Federal camera towers in a county park, on consent
Under the Executive Office heading, in the consent block, the Court approves a Consent for Entry Upon Property for U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the installation of camera towers at Anzalduas Park, with authority for the County Judge to sign. The regular minutes for that day record the consent motion and the four items pulled from it; this was not one of them. [4] [5]
- Procurement
More towers, by sealed bid
The Court awards a contract to FLIR Detection, Inc. as the lowest and best bidder for the Sheriff's Office project titled "Purchase of Surveillance Towers". [2]
- Procurement
A maintenance contract
Two vendors are awarded contracts for the "Service & Repair of Sky-Towers and/or Sky-Cops" for the Sheriff's Office under bid RFB 2021-013. Both are renewed for a further year in May 2023. [3]
Two kinds of tower stand in Hidalgo County. The county owns one kind. It gave a federal agency permission for the other in two lines on a consent agenda.
The county’s towers
In August 2015 the Commissioners Court approved a sole source declaration for FLIR Detection, Inc., “formerly ICx Tactical Platforms”, covering SkyWatch Mobile Surveillance Towers and all related equipment, supplies and service support. The item records that this was a transfer: the original declaration for ICx Tactical Platforms had been approved on 10 July 2012, and the new one was to remain in force without interruption, “while the County owns and / or operates said towers or until revoked”.
A SkyWatch is a raisable observation cabin on a trailer. The county has been buying and maintaining them for fourteen years on a finding that nobody else sells them.
In April 2019 the Court awarded a contract to FLIR Detection as the lowest and best bidder on a sealed bid for the Sheriff’s Office, titled “Purchase of Surveillance Towers”. The award item names the vendor and not the price or the quantity. In October 2021 the Court awarded two vendors the service and repair of “Sky-Towers and/or Sky-Cops”, and in May 2023 renewed both for another year, which is how a reader learns the towers are still standing.
The federal towers in the park
On 3 July 2018, in the consent block of a special meeting, under the Executive Office heading, the Court approved this:
Requesting approval of Consent for Entry Upon Property for Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Purposes
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection for installation of camera towers at Anzalduas Park with authority for County Judge to sign
That is the whole item. Anzalduas Park is a county park on the Rio Grande in Precinct 3, with a boat ramp, a pavilion and picnic grounds that the same Court has spent years repairing and, for a period, opened free at weekends.
The consent agenda is the block of items a Texas Commissioners Court approves in a single motion, without discussion, because they are described in the notice as routine or administrative. That day’s regular minutes record the motion and name the four items pulled out of the block for discussion. This was not one of them, so it passed in the single motion, as item 7.A, among 60 others. It was posted as the law requires.
The item names no number of towers, no equipment on them, no area they cover, no term and no consideration. In November 2022 the Court approved a further memorandum of agreement between Hidalgo County and U.S. Customs and Border Protection; that item does not say what it covers either.
Why the distinction matters
A county-owned tower is answerable to the county. The Sheriff buys it, the Commissioners Court pays for it, and a resident can in principle ask both what it watches. A federal tower on county land is not: the agency that operates it does not answer to the Commissioners Court, and the county’s only decision was to let it be built.
That single decision is the moment a resident could have been consulted. It took one line in a block of items approved together, and the record of it is the line itself.
What we do not know
- How many surveillance towers Hidalgo County owns, where they are and what sensors they carry.
- What the 2019 sealed bid for "Purchase of Surveillance Towers" cost, and how many towers it bought.
- How many camera towers U.S. Customs and Border Protection installed at Anzalduas Park, what they can see, and whether the consent has an end date.
- Whether the county receives anything, in money or in access, for hosting the federal towers.
- Whether the county towers are ever moved to a location other than the border, and who decides.
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 Hidalgo County and how public comment works there.
How to show up in Hidalgo 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.
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