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Tarrant County Sheriff | Covert surveillance camera systems

An annual contract for the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, awarded twice and renewed three times between 2019 and 2023, whose price has never appeared in a public document.

At a glance

The decision
Court Order 129945, 9 April 2019, awarding RFP 2019-119. Moved by Commissioner Precinct 1 Roy Charles Brooks, seconded by Commissioner Precinct 3 Gary Fickes, carried 4-0 with Commissioner Precinct 2 Devan Allen absent [1] [2]
The cost
Not stated. Every award reads "Per Contract Terms" and every renewal reads "Same Contract Terms". The county's own award notices for this contract carry no figure either [1] [2] [5] [6]
How many cameras, and where
Not stated in any document the Commissioners Court published [2]
Who else bid
The county's evaluation sheet for the 2019 award names one respondent, and the sheet for the 2022 re-award names the same company again. Both sheets are the form the county uses to list and score every bidder [5] [6]
How long footage is kept
Not stated in any document the Commissioners Court published [2]
Still running?
Not known. The last appearance of this contract anywhere in the corpus is the February 2023 renewal, and it is not mentioned again in the two and a half years of agendas and minutes that follow, through August 2025. The record after 1 October 2025 has not been read [4]

How it happened

  1. Decision

    The contract is awarded

    The Commissioners Court awards RFP 2019-119, an annual contract for covert surveillance camera systems for the Sheriff's Office, to Sandoval Custom Creations, Inc. The price in the agenda and in the minutes is the phrase "Per Contract Terms". It carries 4-0 on its own vote. [1] [2]

  2. Procurement

    First renewal, on consent

    The Court exercises the first option for renewal at the same contract terms. The item is on the consent agenda, which is voted as one block. [3]

  3. Procurement

    Second and final renewal of the first contract

    The Court exercises the second and final option for renewal, again at the same contract terms and again on the consent agenda. [3]

  4. Decision

    Re-awarded to the same company

    With the renewals exhausted the county rebids the work as RFP 2022-078 and awards it to Sandoval Custom Creations, Inc. again, for "Per Contract Terms", as Court Order 137843. It carries 5-0. At the same meeting the Court approves the Sheriff's Office onto Flock Safety's platform. [2] [6]

  5. Procurement

    Renewed again, and then it stops appearing

    The Court exercises the first option for renewal on the second contract, at the same contract terms, on the consent agenda, as Court Order 140257. This is the last time the contract, the RFP number or the vendor appears in the Court's record. The agendas and minutes for the two and a half years that follow, through August 2025, do not mention it again. [4]

Tarrant County has been buying covert surveillance camera systems for its Sheriff’s Office since April 2019. The Commissioners Court has voted on the arrangement five times. In none of those five appearances does a number appear.

The first award, RFP 2019-119, reached the Court on 9 April 2019 under the Purchasing heading, between a bid for stainless steel restroom partitions and a bid for retirement watches. Where those two items carry dollar figures, this one carries the phrase “Per Contract Terms”. It passed 4-0.

The two renewals that followed, in January 2020 and March 2021, both read “Same Contract Terms” and both sat on the consent agenda, the block of items the Court approves together in a single motion. When the renewal options ran out the county rebid the work, and in April 2022 awarded it to the same company, again for “Per Contract Terms”. That contract was renewed in February 2023, on consent again, and that is the last time it appears. The Court’s agendas and minutes for the following two and a half years, through August 2025, do not mention the contract, the RFP number or the vendor. Whether the remaining renewal options were exercised without returning to the Court, or whether the arrangement ended, is not in the record we can read.

The award notices do not close the gap

Tarrant County Purchasing publishes an evaluation sheet for every bid and request for proposals, and for most equipment those sheets are informative. The sheet for the county’s 2019 camera work at 350 W. Belknap lists five bidders and breaks each one into materials, services and bonds, with totals running from $196,970.88 to $449,122.00. The sheet for the 2023 security camera upgrade carries a grand total of $1,395,825.00 beside a competing bid of $2,209,425.00.

The two covert camera sheets are the same form. They carry the scoring percentages and the award recommendation, and where the price would be there is nothing. The 2019 sheet names one respondent, Sandoval Custom Creations, Inc. of Larkspur, Colorado, and scores it 76.43% overall. The 2022 sheet names the same company, by then in Palmer Lake, Colorado, and scores it 84.77%.

What a covert camera contract is

The public record does not say what the county bought, beyond the category name. “Covert surveillance camera systems” is the county’s own phrase, and the evaluation criteria on the award sheet add one line of detail: a 15% criterion for “Other Covert Surveillance Camera System Options”, including a subjective evaluation of the price for those systems.

Nothing in the record says how many cameras the county has, where they go, who decides to place one, how long the footage is kept, or who can watch it. Those are the questions a records request has to answer, because the Commissioners Court was never told them either.

On the map

The community has mapped 467 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 Tarrant County and how public comment works there.

How to show up in Tarrant 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.
    Tarrant County Commissioners Court, agenda, 9 April 2019, item IX.H.2, "RFP No. 2019-119 - Annual Contract for Covert Surveillance Camera Systems - Sheriff's Office - Sandoval Custom Creations, Inc. - Per Contract Terms" · Meeting record · · accessed
  2. 2.
    Tarrant County Commissioners Court, minutes, 9 April 2019, carrying Court Order 129945 · Meeting record · · accessed
  3. 3.
    Tarrant County Commissioners Court, agenda, 14 January 2020, item IX.H.9, the first renewal at "Same Contract Terms" · Meeting record · · accessed
  4. 4.
    Tarrant County Commissioners Court, minutes, 7 February 2023, carrying Court Order 140257, the renewal of RFP 2022-078 · Meeting record · · accessed
  5. 5.
    Tarrant County Purchasing, award notice, RFP 2019-119 Annual Contract for Covert Surveillance Camera Systems, naming one respondent and no price · Primary document · · accessed · our copy (9 KB)
  6. 6.
    Tarrant County Purchasing, award notice, RFP 2022-078 Covert Surveillance Camera Systems, naming one respondent and no price · Primary document · · accessed · our copy (71 KB)

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