Grimes County weighs large IT software and cybersecurity purchases, including CJIS upgrade and backup replacement

Greg presented an itemized software and services list that would raise the IT operating ask substantially for FY2026. Notable items included a CJIS compliance implementation and training line (~$29,444), a proposed 24/7 remote network monitoring service (~$40,050) that Greg said could be removed if staff relief were provided, and a Commvault long‑term backup solution (quoted at ~$167,250) to replace the county’s current end‑of‑life backup system.

To address endpoint security, Greg proposed a two‑part strategy: ThreatLocker as the zero‑day protection layer (~$26,000) plus CrowdStrike for broader endpoint coverage (~$13,007.21). Commissioners asked auditors to add CrowdStrike to the budget and asked Greg to rework requests to show tradeoffs. On evidence handling, the district attorney’s office is piloting Evidence.com (an evidence‑hosting and sharing platform) and asked the court to consider a ~ $19,798 purchase to reduce material and labor costs for producing forensic video in criminal cases.

On body and in‑car camera systems, Greg explained tradeoffs between staying with WatchGuard EL5 on‑premises, moving to WatchGuard cloud (a $55,000/year five‑year commitment that includes new hardware), or switching to Axon (Evidence.com/Axon hardware) which may require an upfront $500,000 hardware investment but is widely used by regional law‑enforcement partners. The court asked for further vendor follow‑up before committing to multiyear contracts.