Skip to content
ORWELL INDEX

Texas

Collin County

On record

Checked 15 Sept 2026
Technologies
2
Systems
3
Devices mapped
749

Collin County, Texas. Device data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), with community reporting via DeFlock. Open the full map →

Volunteers have mapped 749 devices in Collin County, 705 of them license plate readers, and 613 of the county’s mapped devices record Flock Safety as the manufacturer. The Commissioners Court’s own record shows the county buying Flock cameras of its own, the Sheriff’s Office adding plate readers from a second vendor, and the county running a regional intelligence center whose analysts are paid from federal grants.

We read the Commissioners Court’s agendas for every meeting from January 2019 to September 2026, 375 documents, and the minutes, Court Orders, contracts and quotes behind the items on this page. Each agenda lists every item with the names of the documents attached to it.

Flock Safety cameras for the county

In April 2022 the Court approved an agreement giving the Sheriff’s Office access to Flock’s plate reader system “in order to locate fugitives”, at no cost to the county. In November 2025 it approved a county contract with Flock, requested by Public Works and bought through a purchasing cooperative: 48 fixed plate readers, 2 portable ones and 4 mobile camera trailers, with Flock’s AI search tool, $572,000 over two years. Both went through on the consent agenda, the block of routine items the Court passes in one motion. Flock Safety plate readers has the details.

Plate readers from Motorola

In December 2023 the Court let the Sheriff’s Office accept a plate reader system donated by Motorola Solutions, including Vigilant’s hosted plate reader service. In August 2024 it approved seven in-car camera systems for the office whose quote carries a Vigilant plate reader service fee. Motorola and Vigilant plate readers has the details.

A county-run fusion center

The North Texas Fusion Center, in McKinney, gathers and shares intelligence with police and federal agencies across the region. The county’s 2014 concept of operations says the Commissioners Court provides its authority and governs its operations. The Court has accepted federal homeland security grants for its analysts in 2023, 2024 and 2026, most recently $295,412.53 and $72,705 in August 2026. In April 2024 it exempted a $94,500 purchase of extremism monitoring software for the center from competitive bidding. North Texas Fusion Center has the details.

Drones

The Court has approved drone purchases for the Sheriff’s Office from federal forfeiture funds, $2,934 in March 2023 and $40,689 in November 2023, and in March 2026 accepted a donated drone from the Nevada Fire Department (Nevada is a town in the county).

What the record does not show

Over the 375 agendas, no item mentions a real time crime center, gunshot detection, facial recognition or Fusus. That is a statement about what this Court was asked to consider, not about what operates in Collin County. Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen and the county’s other cities run their own police departments, and the Atlas of Surveillance records plate readers, drones and face recognition for several of them. We have not read their records.

The county documents also leave the questions that matter most for residents unanswered: where the cameras are, how long their images are kept, and which agencies can search them.

What's in use here

  • A 2022 agreement put the Sheriff's Office on Flock's network at no cost. In November 2025 the Commissioners Court approved a county contract for 48 fixed Flock plate readers, two portable ones and four camera trailers, $572,000 over two years, on the consent agenda.

  • Approved Collin County Sheriff Updated

    In December 2023 the Commissioners Court let the Sheriff's Office accept a plate reader system donated by Motorola Solutions. In August 2024 it approved seven in-car camera systems whose quote carries Vigilant plate reader service lines.

other

1 operator
  • Active Collin County Sheriff Updated

    A regional intelligence center run from McKinney since 2006, which the county's own operating document places under the Commissioners Court. Its analysts are paid from federal homeland security grants the Court accepts, and in 2024 the Court bought extremism monitoring software for it without bidding.

Who approves it

These systems were approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have confirmed where they meet and how comment works.

How to show up in Collin County →

Who runs it

The agency is the accountability unit: who voted, whose policy applies, and who answers a records request.

Agency Jurisdiction Systems
Collin County Sheriff's Office Collin County 3
Collin County Public Works Collin County 1
2 agencies on record. A jointly run system counts against each of its operators, so this column is not a county total.

Trackers

Meetings, contracts, records

Nothing listed yet. The trackers launch here, and facts appear only with their sources.

How the inventory works →

What you can do

Civic action

Show up

Public comment is open to any resident, and you do not have to be an expert to use it. The hub says what to expect in each room, how long you get to speak, and where to check the schedule before you go.

How to show up in Collin County →

Personal protection

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 ↗

Get the digest

A regular digest of what changed in the world of surveillance: the counties we published, the devices that appeared on the map, and the public meetings where these decisions get made. We send it when there is enough to report.

Subscribe to the newsletter

One click to unsubscribe. What we do with your address is on the newsletter page.