Bexar County

Volunteers have mapped 674 devices in Bexar County, 550 of them license plate readers, and 531 of the county’s mapped devices record Flock Safety as the manufacturer. The Sheriff’s Office runs Flock cameras of its own, subscribes to a plate reader data platform from Vigilant Solutions, and in December 2025 asked the Commissioners Court to open negotiations for a facial recognition system.

We read the Commissioners Court’s agendas for every meeting from January 2018 to September 2026, and the Sheriff’s Office pages on the county website. The agendas list each item but not its outcome. Where this page says an item passed, the meeting’s video records the vote.

Flock Safety cameras

The Sheriff’s Office publishes a Flock Safety page on the county website. On 16 September 2026 it listed 33 plate reader cameras, 757,912 vehicles detected in the previous 30 days, and a 30-day retention period, and it rules out uses including immigration and traffic enforcement. We did not find the Flock contract on the Court’s agendas from 2018 to September 2026. The only Flock item was a $135 invoice. Flock Safety plate readers has the details.

Vigilant LEARN

The Court’s consent agenda carried a renewal of the Sheriff’s Office’s LEARN subscription from Vigilant Solutions in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025, each without competitive bidding, from $54,050 to $63,205. The 2023 and 2025 renewals passed with the consent agenda. The agendas do not say whose plate reads the platform holds or how long they are kept. Vigilant LEARN plate reader data has the details.

Facial recognition

On 16 December 2025 the Court authorized the county to negotiate an agreement with NEC Corporation of America for fingerprint identification and facial recognition systems for the Sheriff’s Office. The item passed with the consent agenda. The agreement is to come back to the Court, and we did not find it on the agendas through 15 September 2026. NEC facial recognition has the details.

Body cameras

Axon body-worn cameras were on the Court’s agenda in February 2018, when the Sheriff’s Office asked to select Axon as its body camera vendor. In December 2019 an individual item proposed a $6,376,754 Axon contract for an evidence capture and digital management system. In August 2026 the Court discussed a new Axon body camera procurement and how to buy it, and the subject was listed for closed session in August and September 2026. No award had come to the Court by 15 September 2026.

Cameras in county buildings and on dumping sites

A January 2021 consent item asked the Court to ratify a $381,925 purchase of BriefCam video analysis software for 700 cameras, requested by Facilities Management in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. An April 2022 consent item proposed four mobile camera surveillance units for Environmental Services, with a year of 24-hour monitoring, to deter illegal dumping, for $159,732.

Aviation

A consent item in August 2022 proposed a $79,202.16 van as a base for the Sheriff’s Office’s unmanned aircraft. In November 2025 the Court was asked to ratify a $3,000,000 grant application to the Office of the Governor for a Sheriff’s Office helicopter under the Texas Anti-Gang program, and an August 2026 consent item sought authority to issue a request for proposals for the helicopter.

Neighbors by Ring

The Sheriff’s Office announced on 25 September 2018 that it was joining Ring’s Neighbors app. Residents use the app to share crime and safety posts, including video from Ring home security cameras, and to receive alerts from local law enforcement.

What the record does not show

Across the agendas from 2018 to September 2026 we did not find an item naming Fusus, ShotSpotter, a real time crime center, Clearview AI or a cell site simulator. That is a statement about what reached this Court’s agendas, not about what operates in Bexar County. San Antonio and the county’s other cities run their own police departments, and the Atlas of Surveillance records plate readers, drones, body cameras and camera registries for many of them. We have not read their records.

The county documents also leave open the questions that matter most for residents: who approved the Sheriff’s Office’s Flock cameras and what they cost, what the LEARN subscription holds, and whether the NEC facial recognition agreement has been signed.