Webb County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Webb 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
Laredo Police Department
The Laredo Police Department received approval for a major expansion of it Flock Safety automated license plate reader system in early 2026.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of LaredoLMTOnline
The Laredo Police Department operates one Leptron RDASS 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 Collegewww.cityoflaredo.com
In 2018, the Laredo Police Department received approval to establish a $1.4 million real-time crime center in the city. Most of the funding was earmarked for installing surveillance cameras around the city. Schools in the area have also agreed to feed data to the RTCC.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Electronic Frontier FoundationLaredo Police DepartmentKGNS
The Laredo Police Department distributes BWCs to officers who are regularly engaged in traffic patrol, detain or stop vehicles, and respond directly to calls from the public. As of February 2019, the Laredo Police Department has obtained at least 15 BWCs through grants and hopes to equip 359 of its officers in the future. The cameras, manufactured by Utility Associates, are partially concealed: all that is visible is the lens, which is placed a long the buttons on a police officer's shirt or vest.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of Laredowww.ci.laredo.tx.us
Webb County Sheriff's Office
The Texas Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority gave the Webb County Sheriff’s Office a grant to purchase automated license plate readers in 2022. In 2019, the Webb County Sheriff’s Office announced the approval for 10 new patrol units. These vehicles are equippped with automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KGNSwww.webbcountytx.govMotor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority
Webb County Sheriff's Office has acquired face recognition services from Turn-Key Mobile, Inc.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Webb County
The Webb County Sheriff's Office began purchasing body-worn cameras after receiving a $22,000 grant.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KGNSwww.youtube.com
Laredo Independent School District Police Department
As of 2017, the Laredo Police Department has obtained at least 15 BWCs through grants and hopes to equip 359 of its officers in the future.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): LMT OnlineU.S Department of Justicewww.documentcloud.org
Texas A&M International University Police Department
The Texas A&M International University Police Department has used body-worn cameras since 2014.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): LMT Online
United Independent School District Police Department
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $47,061 to the United Independent School District Police Department in 2016 as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's body-worn camera grant program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): U.S Department of JusticeLMT Online
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026