Cameron County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Cameron County.
Technology presence
What these categories mean
- ALPR
- Automated license plate readers (ALPR): camera systems that automatically capture, read, and log vehicle license plates with location and time, producing a searchable record of vehicle movements.
- Fixed cameras & RTCC
- Agency-operated fixed video cameras and the real-time crime centers (RTCC) that aggregate live and recorded feeds for monitoring. Extends the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Atlas, which enumerates real-time crime centers and camera registries but not standalone fixed-camera estates.
- Face recognition
- Software that matches faces in images or video against a reference database to identify or verify individuals.
- Drones / UAS
- Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), commonly called drones, operated by an agency for overhead observation, imaging, or sensing.
- Gunshot detection
- Networks of acoustic sensors that detect and locate suspected gunfire and alert an agency.
- Body-worn & dashcam
- Officer body-worn and in-vehicle dashboard cameras that record encounters; public access to the footage is frequently restricted.
- Doorbell & camera registry
- Programs that give an agency access to privately owned camera footage: doorbell-camera partnerships, citizen camera registries, and private-camera integration platforms.
- Cell-site simulators
- Devices that mimic cell towers to locate or identify nearby mobile phones. They are often called Stingrays, or IMSI catchers after the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number that identifies each phone on a network. Adjacent: communications surveillance outside the visual/sensor core.
- Predictive policing
- Software that forecasts where crime may occur or who may be involved, to direct policing. Adjacent: analytics rather than a sensing deployment.
- Social-media monitoring
- Tools that collect and analyze public social-media activity for an agency. Adjacent: open-source/communications monitoring outside the visual/sensor core.
The record, by agency
Cameron County Sheriff's Office
The Cameron County Sheriff's Office signed a two-year contract with Flock Safety for automated license plate readers in March 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Cameron County
Various Cameron County Constables precincts have adopted body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Valley CentralBrownville Herald
Brownsville Police Department
The Brownsville Police Department uses Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of Brownsvillewww.cob.us
The Brownsville City Commission approved a 5-year contract worth $671,319.34 for 140 body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City Commission of the City of Brownsvillewww.documentcloud.org
The Brownsville Police Department utilizes the Fusus camera registry system.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): CBS 4 News Rio Grande Valley
The Brownsville Police Department operates one drone as of 2019, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.cob.us
South Padre Island Police Department
The South Padre Island Police Department first installed two license plate readers at both ends of the Queen Isabella Causeway for Spring Break 2017.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KRGV Chanel 5 NewsSouth Padre Island
The South Padre Island uses body-worn cameras, according to March 2018 press release.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): South Padres Island
The South Padre Island Police Department operates one Yuneec Typhoon Q500 drone as of 2016, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegevalleycentral.com
Brownsville ISD Police & Security Department
The Brownsville ISD Police & Security Department submitted a policy related to drones and the use of force to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Texas Commission On Law Enforcement
Combes Police Department
The Combes Police Department received $6,266 towards its body-worn camera program in September 2024 from the Texas Governor's Public Safety Office.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Texas Office of the Governor
Laguna Vista Police Department
Laguna Vista police officers now have eight Axon body-worn cameras due to a $10,172 grant.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Port Isabel Press
Port Isabel Police Department
The Port Isabel Police Department received $14,460 from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to purchase 12 body-worn cameras through the 2022 Small, Rural, Tribal BWC Microgrant program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera microgrant grantee list
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026