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Sheriff authorized to seek placement of license-plate readers on FM 50 and SH 105
Summary
Washington County commissioners on March 3 authorized the sheriff to apply to the Texas Department of Transportation to install automated license-plate recognition cameras at two county locations; the sheriff said the system is vehicle‑focused, vendor data retention will apply and the county will have query rights for law‑enforcement alerts.
The Washington County Commissioners Court on March 3 authorized the county sheriff to apply to the Texas Department of Transportation for permission to place automated license-plate recognition (ALPR) cameras in TxDOT right of way at two sites: the 10,000 block of FM 50 and the 18,000 block of State Highway 105.
The sheriff told commissioners the cameras are intended to assist law enforcement with vehicle searches and alerts — for example, in missing-person or child-abduction cases — and emphasized the system is “vehicle centric” rather than focused on people. “If we have a vehicle that we're looking for ... we can set up an alert in that particular system,” the sheriff said. He added that the county does not maintain the vendor’s database and would have query and alert rights rather than direct custody of retained data.
Commissioners asked where the units would be placed and whether they would be compatible with state systems. The sheriff said the county cameras would supplement planned state installations along major roads and use the same camera system, allowing alerts to propagate across networks when configured.
The court voted to authorize the sheriff to enter the multi‑use agreement with TxDOT and to complete the application process; final purchasing and contracting were described as still pending. The sheriff said the resolution is required to complete the application and obtain TxDOT authorization.
The action authorizes the county to proceed with the permitting step; it does not itself install equipment or set final operating policies. The court did not record a roll‑call vote in the transcript.
