City of Austin Proposes $2M Contract to Expand Park Surveillance

Austin City Council is set to consider a proposal to expand the city’s use of mobile surveillance technology in public parks, building on results from a multiyear pilot program conducted by Austin Parks and Recreation.

The council is scheduled to vote Feb. 5 on authorizing a contract for the rental of mobile security trailers and associated monitoring services for parkland areas operated by the department. The proposed agreement would be awarded to LiveView Technologies, doing business as LVT, for an initial three-year term with up to two one-year extension options, with total authorization not to exceed $2 million.

According to city documents, the contract would support continued deployment of mobile surveillance trailers equipped with night-vision cameras, with footage accessible to Austin Police for investigative purposes. The technology is intended to address ongoing public safety concerns, particularly property crime in park parking lots.

Austin Parks and Recreation launched the pilot program in 2022 in response to recurring incidents of burglary of vehicles at high-use parks. At the start of the pilot, some locations experienced more than 100 vehicle burglaries annually, according to a memo from Austin Parks and Recreation Director Jesús Aguirre. Deployment locations were selected in coordination with Austin Police using historical crime data.

City staff report that the pilot resulted in an overall reduction in crime, with the most significant decreases occurring in vehicle burglaries. Of the 15 parks that participated, nine experienced a decrease in reported crime during or after trailer deployment. Several locations, including Barton Creek Greenbelt, Mayfield Park and Preserve, Northwest District Park and Zilker Park, showed sustained reductions even after trailers were removed, while other parks saw declines only during active deployment.

The proposed contract would replace an existing agreement that involved a one-time purchase made in 2024. City staff cite an increase in safety-related complaints across the park system, including theft, vehicle break-ins, vandalism, graffiti, reports of shots fired and other nuisance behavior, as a driver for expanding the program under a rental and monitoring services model.

The staff memo also outlines privacy and data governance measures tied to the proposed contract. Under the terms described, the city would retain sole ownership of all system data, while the vendor would be contractually prohibited from accessing, sharing or using footage for any purpose, including artificial intelligence training or third-party distribution. Video data would be stored in a U.S.-based, Criminal Justice Information Services-compliant cloud environment, encrypted and permanently deleted after 60 days.

City documents state the system would not use facial recognition, biometric identification, audio capture or autonomous analytics. Access to footage would be limited to authorized city personnel, with activity tracked through audit logs. Austin Police would be permitted to access recordings for investigations.

Austin Financial Services issued a request for proposals for the services in March 2025 and received five submissions. LiveView Technologies was selected as the best evaluated responsive offer based on criteria that included the proposed product, warranty and rental protection plan, experience and references, pricing and local and small business presence.

Funding of $400,000 for the contract is available in the current fiscal year operating budget for Austin Parks and Recreation. Funding for future years would be contingent on approval through subsequent budget processes.

City staff note that delaying approval of the contract could affect the city’s ability to reduce crime in parkland areas, and indicate that the department plans to post signage at monitored locations and publish program details online to support transparency.