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Williamson County Sheriff | The databases and the phone crackers

Since 2019 the county has bought commercial people-search subscriptions one office at a time, none of them large enough to be remarkable. In 2020 a motion to buy phone extraction software died for want of a second. In 2022 the Court bought it, out of forfeiture funds, on the consent agenda.

At a glance

What the county subscribes to
TLOxp, sold by TransUnion Risk and Alternative Data Solutions and described in the items as "a customized search and locate tool for law enforcement agents", and Accurint for Government from LexisNexis. A Thomson Reuters CLEAR contract appears as an attachment name in 2015 [1] [7] [8]
Who buys it
The Sheriff's Office, the County Attorney's Office and Constable Precincts 1, 2 and 3, each on its own agreement [1] [2] [3]
What it costs
Between $100 and $583 a month per agreement, renewed in most years since November 2019. The largest single figure in the record is $9,600 in February 2024 [1] [3] [4] [5]
Phone extraction
GrayKey software, $18,365, bought 22 March 2022 on a federal cooperative contract and funded from forfeiture funds, as item 31 inside the consent block [6]
The purchase before it
21 July 2020: a motion to buy a Grayshift software license for Sheriff's Office investigations for $15,075 died for lack of a second, and no further action was taken [9]
How many staff have accounts, and whether queries are audited
Not addressed in any Commissioners Court minutes we read [10]

How it happened

  1. Procurement

    The first subscription, and one canceled

    The Court approved an agreement with TransUnion Risk and Alternative Data Solutions for a research database subscription at $280 a month. At the same meeting it approved a termination notice for a LexisNexis Accurint subscription held by Constable Precinct 2. [1]

  2. Denied

    A phone cracking license dies on the dais

    A motion to approve the purchase of a Grayshift software license for use by the Sheriff's Office during investigations, $15,075, died for lack of a second. The minutes record that no further action was taken. [9]

  3. Procurement

    GrayKey, on consent, out of forfeiture funds

    The Court approved the purchase of GrayKey software from a reseller for $18,365 on a federal cooperative contract, funded by forfeiture funds, as item 31 inside a consent block running from item 3 to item 46. The five Vigilant plate reader cameras were item 30 of the same block. [6]

  4. Expansion

    Two constables get their own

    Separate TLOxp agreements for Constable Precinct 1 and Constable Precinct 3, each at $300 a month, one for twenty-four months and one for twelve. [3]

  5. Procurement

    A forensics license conversion at no cost

    Agreement #2023146 for a digital forensics application license conversion from Cellebrite at no cost to the county. Two Cellebrite training purchases had been approved the previous autumn. [7]

  6. Expansion

    CARFAX for Police, at no cost

    An addendum to the CARFAX terms and conditions and use of CARFAX for Police as an investigative resource tool for the Sheriff's Department, at no cost to the county. [8]

A people-search database takes the commercial records that follow an adult through life, the addresses, the phone numbers, the vehicles, the relatives, and makes them searchable from one box. Phone extraction software takes a locked handset and copies what is on it. Williamson County buys both, and the way it buys them is the part worth noticing.

One office at a time

The first TransUnion research database subscription was approved in November 2019 at $280 a month. The County Attorney’s Office got its own at $100 a month in 2020. The Sheriff’s Office moved to $375 a month in 2022. Constable Precinct 1 and Constable Precinct 3 each took their own agreement in November 2022 at $300 a month. By February 2026 one agreement was $583 a month.

Several of the items name the product, TLOxp, and describe it in the same phrase each time: a customized search and locate tool for law enforcement agents. Separately, LexisNexis Accurint was canceled by one Constable in 2019 and bought again by two different county funds in 2026.

Not one of these agreements is large. That is the point: a subscription at a few hundred dollars a month is a routine purchase, and the Court’s minutes treat it as one. Added together they are a standing capability, spread across five offices, that nothing in the county’s record describes as a whole.

The phone crackers

On 21 July 2020 the Court considered buying a Grayshift software license for $15,075 for Sheriff’s Office investigations. The motion died for lack of a second. The minutes say no further action was taken, and record no discussion.

On 22 March 2022 the Court approved GrayKey software for $18,365 from a reseller, on a federal cooperative contract, funded from forfeiture funds. It was item 31 on the consent agenda, in a block of forty-four items disposed of in a single vote. Item 30 of the same block was the five plate reader cameras.

Forfeiture funds are money and property seized in criminal cases. Buying with them means the purchase does not compete with anything in the county budget, which is one reason an item like this can be routine.

What is not in the record

How many people hold accounts on these databases. What a query has to be justified by. Whether anybody reviews the queries afterwards. What is taken off a phone, under what authority, and how long it is kept. The county’s minutes record the price and the contract vehicle for each purchase and nothing about how any of it is used.

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 Williamson County and how public comment works there.

How to show up in Williamson 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.
    Williamson County Commissioners Court, minutes, 5 November 2019, items 14 and 20 · Meeting record · · accessed
  2. 2.
    Williamson County Commissioners Court, minutes, 3 November 2020, item 24 · Meeting record · · accessed
  3. 3.
    Williamson County Commissioners Court, minutes, 1 November 2022, items 6 and 7 · Meeting record · · accessed
  4. 4.
    Williamson County Commissioners Court, minutes, 13 February 2024, item 24 · Meeting record · · accessed
  5. 5.
    Williamson County Commissioners Court, minutes, 24 February 2026, item 18 · Meeting record · · accessed
  6. 6.
    Williamson County Commissioners Court, minutes, 22 March 2022, item 31 · Meeting record · · accessed
  7. 7.
    Williamson County Commissioners Court, minutes, 14 February 2023, item 16 · Meeting record · · accessed
  8. 8.
    Williamson County Commissioners Court, minutes, 18 November 2025, item 21 · Meeting record · · accessed
  9. 9.
    Williamson County Commissioners Court, minutes, 21 July 2020, item 85 · Meeting record · · accessed
  10. 10.
    Williamson County Commissioners Court, the minutes published for 9 April 2013 to 15 September 2026, 913 documents · Dataset · accessed

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