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BASTROP — Bastrop County commissioners recently approved an upgrade Oct. 13 that could nearly double the ability of the Sheriff’s Office to unlock cellphones during criminal investigations.
The court authorized the department to transition from its current cellphone data extraction software, Cellebrite, with a system from Magnet Forensics that includes GrayKey, a tool designed to open smartphones and recover digital evidence.
Officials said the upgrade could increase the successful cellphone extraction rate from 50% to as high as 90%, strengthening investigations involving child sexual exploitation and narcotics offenses.
“We’re going to other agencies and asking them, ‘Can you unlock our phones?’” Sheriff Maurice Cook told commissioners Oct. 13. “We’re going to Round Rock — we go to Austin — we go to different agencies.”
According to county documents, recent smartphone security upgrades have lowered Cellebrite’s effectiveness, leaving investigators unable to retrieve potential evidence from about half of the devices they try to access.
The approval followed public comments from residents, who questioned the county’s use of surveillance technology, citing controversy over facial recognition software and automatic license plate-reading cameras.
“I think that we need to pump the brakes here,” resident John Bush said. “I remember good old-fashioned community policing, building relationships with the people where you don’t have to leverage (artificial intelligence) surveillance technology in order to watch people like Big Brother.”
Cook defended the technology as a tool for probing serious crimes, noting that investigators must have legal authorization to access a device.
“This is not just willy-nilly going out there and looking in your phone,” Cook said. “The only time that we get this technology and use it is with a search warrant … if you want people having child pornography, facilitating narcotics, then don’t approve this.”
He also clarified that deputies must physically possess a cellphone in order to use the software.
Under the approved transition, the county will maintain its existing Cellebrite subscription until it expires in March 2027, while three employees complete specialized training on the new system.
County documents list differing firstyear costs for Magnet Forensics, running from about $52,000 to $58,000. Both estimates include software, hardware and discounted training.
The county’s information technology department will contribute $21,000 toward the first-year cost, with the remainder funded through the Sheriff’s Office budget.
After the transition, the annual subscription will is priced at $23,000, an increase of about $2,500 over the current software.
