Travis County Sheriff | County plate reader contract
Travis County has held a Vigilant Solutions plate reader contract since August 2013. In thirteen years it came back to the Commissioners Court once, in April 2026, to change the vendor's name to Motorola Solutions.
At a glance
- Contract
- No. 4400001622, "VIGILANT LICENSE PLATE READER SYS (NCPA)", executed 27 August 2013 [1]
- What the county says it buys
- "law enforcement speed detection and video equipment for Travis County Technology and Operations Department" [1]
- Original term and amount
- 27 August 2013 to 26 August 2014, $87,680.00 [1]
- Cumulative amount
- $323,619.89, with the term now running to 31 October 2026 [1]
- Spending in the last year
- $34,229.79 in the twelve months before March 2026 [1]
- Who approved the renewals
- The Purchasing Agent, in six modifications between January 2016 and October 2022. Only the change of vendor went to the Commissioners Court [1] [2]
- How many cameras, and where
- not stated in any document attached to the item [1]
How it happened
- Procurement
The contract is executed
Travis County and Vigilant Solutions LLC enter contract 4400001622 for the purchase of law enforcement speed detection and video equipment, for one year at $87,680.00. The contract runs on a cooperative purchasing agreement, marked NCPA in its title. It does not appear in the Commissioners Court's agendas or minutes. [1]
- Expansion
Six renewals, none of them at the Court
The Purchasing Agent approves Modification No. 1 to add and update services from November 2015 at $152,180.00, then five more through October 2022, two of them adding services at $17,859.00 and $18,049.00 and one at $79,485.00. The summary of that activity reached the Court only in 2026, as an attachment. [1]
- Decision
The contract changes hands
The Court takes up Modification No. 7, assigning the contract from Vigilant Solutions LLC to Motorola Solutions, Inc., and adds it to the consent agenda. The paperwork records that Motorola bought Vigilant in January 2019 and retired the Vigilant entity in October 2024. [1] [2] [3]
Travis County has been buying plate reader equipment from the same contract since 2013. The contract number is 4400001622 and its title, in the county’s own paperwork, is “VIGILANT LICENSE PLATE READER SYS (NCPA)”.[1] It was executed on 27 August 2013 for one year and $87,680.00. Thirteen years later the cumulative amount is $323,619.89 and the term runs to 31 October 2026.[1]
The county describes what it buys as “law enforcement speed detection and video equipment for Travis County Technology and Operations Department”.[1] The department is the county’s technology arm, not the Sheriff’s Office, which is separately elected.
The Court saw it once
The contract and modification summary attached to the 2026 item lists six earlier modifications, and every one of them was approved by the Purchasing Agent: adding and updating services in January 2016 at $152,180.00, in August 2016 at $17,859.00, in April 2017 at $18,049.00, and in October 2020 at $79,485.00, with two more updating the cooperative agreement.[1]
What came to the Commissioners Court, on 21 April 2026, was Modification No. 7: an assignment moving the contract from Vigilant Solutions LLC to Motorola Solutions, Inc. Motorola had bought Vigilant in January 2019 and retired the Vigilant legal entity in October 2024, so the county’s paperwork needed a new name on it.[1] The item was added to the consent agenda and approved with the rest of it.[2]
A full-text search of every Travis County Commissioners Court agenda and set of minutes from January 2013 to 15 September 2026 finds no other plate reader contract item.
A federal grant, in a list
A Planning and Budget Office memo from December 2015, attached to a body camera grant item, lists the county’s active grants from the Office of the Governor. One line of the federal pass-through table is a license plate reader award to the Sheriff, and the memo says “TCSO has a current grant for $60,800 for License Plate Readers Grant”.[4] Nothing else in the record says what it bought.
What the documents do not say
None of the paperwork says how many cameras the county operates, where they are, how long a plate read is kept, who may search it, or whether searches are audited. There is no plate reader policy in the Court’s record. Those are the questions a resident would have to ask for in writing.
What we do not know
- How many plate reader cameras the contract covers, and where they are.
- How long the reads are kept, who can search them, and whether the searches are audited.
- Which agencies outside Travis County can see reads from this system.
- What the $60,800 federal plate reader grant the Sheriff's Office held in 2015 paid for, and whether it is part of this system.
What you can do
Show up
Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have not yet confirmed where each of them meets in Travis County.
What we have documented in Travis County →Protect yourself
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Surveillance Self-Defense →Sources
- 1.
- 2. Travis County Commissioners Court, minutes, voting session, 21 April 2026, item 19 · Meeting record · · accessed
- 3. Travis County Commissioners Court, agenda, voting session, 21 April 2026 · Meeting record · · accessed
- 4.
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