Texas Police Spent $4.5M on Four Chevy Tahoes
A leaked invoice reveals the Texas Department of Public Safety paid Cognyte $4.5 million for four modified Chevrolet Tahoes. The expensive package includes the FalcoNet system, designed to intercept and locate mobile devices across 2G to 5G networks, raising significant questions about the cost of surveillance technology.
Restrictions on Use: Customer shall not, without Cognyte's written permission, use the licensed software for any purpose other than neutralizing and preventing terror, crime and cyber threats.
- randycupertino
Answer: Military Grade surveillance tech
> Naturally, it wasn’t just $4.5 million for four 2026 Chevy Tahoes, though the SUVs themselves were still bizarrely expensive at $150,000 a piece. Here’s how the purchase order breaks down:
- FalcoNet Core System (x4): $2,850,000
- Unlicensed FalcoNet core system: $200,000
- Delta 5G Perpetual license for FalcoNet V (x4): $280,000
- 2026 Chevrolet Tahoe (x4): $600,000
- FalcoNet Backpack core V2 – 6 x BTS (2G/3G/4G/5G): $355,500
- Flexable [sic] antenna kit: $27,000
- Cognyte PA Ranger: $105,000
- Unlicensed FalcoNet Backpack core V2 – 6 x BTS (2G/3G/4G/5G): $70,000
- Total PO Amount: $4,487,500
- pyuser583
Wait I read the memo - it said “duty of care.” That’s powerful rhetoric but really narrow and well defined legalese.
I checked, and Texas police only have a duty of care in narrow situations: if someone requires emergency medical care, they must call an ambulance; if they are driving an emergency vehicle, they must do so safely.
That’s about it. There’s no “general duty of care” obligation.
Maybe they’re just using scary sounding language, or maybe this narrow clause is being interpreted to grant the police much larger powers.
But “duty of care” is usually intended to hold someone accountable.
- bob1029
I find it amusing how ineffective all of this stuff becomes if you simply leave your phone at home. No one is doing the hard kind of police work anymore.
- OutOfHere
A core issue as I see it is that the police has too much money. Why are people willingly paying so much in taxes? Why don't people move to lower tax cities and counties? Granted, fines also contribute to their income.
There are ways of lowering crime that don't require police militarization, some of which are covered in https://youtu.be/YJTPGu2E4qk.
- DivingForGold
This just adds fuel to the fire favoring police location apps, where users who spot police vehicles, in this case DPS vehicles post on their app and all app users receive notifications, so anybody nearby can turn off their cellphones - - or, "clam them up" in a ball of 50 layers of aluminum foil slit on the side.
Of course, police will merely start placing hardware in inconspicuous vehicles then.
What if there was a way to massively FLOOD these devices with spurious data though?