Evidence from Texas cities and scholarly research increasingly indicates that communities can enhance public safety and reduce costs to taxpayers by providing alternatives that divert appropriate youths from detention, adjudication, and probation.
Criminal Justice
License plate readers can aid police — but Texas needs guardrails
Earlier this summer, two Texas law enforcement agencies announced investigations involving the alleged misuse of Flock Safety’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology. In Fort Bend County, a sheriff’s lieutenant admitted to conducting repeated searches unrelated to official law enforcement duties nearly 200 times. Shortly thereafter, Baytown Police opened internal affairs and criminal investigations into allegations that an...
August 19, 2026