Ellis County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Ellis 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
Waxahachie Police Department
The Waxahachie Police Department uses Flock Safety automated license plate readers, according to data obtained in July 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Muckrock
The Waxahachie Police Department operates one DJI Inspire drone as of 2018, 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.waxahachietx.com
Methodist Health System Police Department - Midlothian Medical Center
The Methodist Health System Police Department - Midlothian Medical Center uses Flock Safety automated license plate readers, according to data obtained in July 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Muckrock
Ovilla Police Department
The Ovilla Police Department uses Flock Safety automated license plate readers, according to data obtained in July 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Muckrock
Red Oak Police Department
The Red Oak Police 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
The Texas Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority gave the Red Oak Police Department a grant to purchase automated license plate readers in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority
Midlothian Police Department
The Midlothian Police Department uses WatchGuard body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Midlothian Police Department
The Midlothian Police Department is purchasing Flock Safety automated license plate readers and services at a cost not to exceed $209,100.00. The agency scanned 5,598 license plates using Vigilant Solutions automated license plate readers in 2019.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Midlothian Police DepartmentFocus Daily News
Ellis County Sheriff's Office
The Ellis County Sheriff's Office drone program became operative in 2023 and currently has eight drones.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Ellis County Press
The Ellis County Sheriff's Office started using body-worn cameras in 2017. In 2018, they signed a five-year contract with Axon.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): MidlothianMirror.com
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026