Politics
Austin’s surveillance inventory spans police, fire and emergency services
A public-records database identifies at least eight kinds of surveillance technology used or previously used by Austin agencies, from body cameras to facial recognition. The city says it is reviewing departmental inventories under a new ordinance, with privacy assessments expected before a January 2027 reporting deadline.
Austin city departments use or have used at least eight categories of surveillance technology, according to a public-records database that documents police technology nationwide. The listed tools include body-worn cameras, drones, facial recognition, investigative software and systems that give law enforcement access to camera footage around the city.
The inventory comes as Austin begins implementing its Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology Act, or TRUST Act, which the City Council approved in April 2026. The measure requires city departments to inventory surveillance tools and assess their privacy impacts.
The database, maintained by the University of Nevada and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, draws on public records. It also lists a camera registry maintained by the Austin Police Department, where residents may voluntarily register their home security cameras, and a real-time crime center that the department has operated since 2010.
Other listed tools include cell-site simulators, which mimic cell towers to collect information from nearby phones, and third-party investigative platforms. Records identify platforms from PenLink and LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Accurint Virtual Crime Center, which the companies describe as providing digital intelligence and access to data such as identity records, booking photos and crime information.
The database also identifies two regional intelligence centers—the Texas Joint Crime Information Center and Austin Regional Intelligence Center—that facilitate information-sharing among agencies. The Texas Department of Public Safety and Austin Police Department appear among the agencies using multiple surveillance technologies.
A city memo released in September said all departments were required to submit complete inventories. Austin police submitted 89; Austin Fire submitted 29; Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services submitted seven; and Austin Forensic Science submitted one.
The city said it reviewed the submissions for compliance with the TRUST Act and combined duplicate technologies serving the same purpose into single Privacy Impact Assessments. The memo said departments had not submitted new surveillance technologies since the law passed.
The city plans to release privacy impact statements four weeks before its annual reporting deadline. For the current cycle, the deadline is Jan. 28, 2027, putting the expected release around the end of December or early January.
The inventory and forthcoming assessments will give residents a clearer account of what technologies city departments use and the safeguards the city applies. The public-records database includes tools agencies have used as well as those currently in operation, so it does not by itself establish that every listed technology remains active.