The Houston City Council voted on Wednesday to extend the city’s contract with CentralSquare Technologies.
The contract extension for the records system used by the Houston Police Department will run until Nov. 10, 2026, at a cost of $1.7 million for a system HPD previously called “antiquated.”
In 2023, the City of Houston paid $31 million for a records system by Versaterm.
The new records system was scheduled for rollout in 2024 and again in 2025, but it has yet to launch.
The current CentralSquare Technologies system is linked to the 2024 suspended-cases scandal.
Since 2016, around 260,000 cases, many of which had workable leads, were marked suspended due to a lack of personnel, according to HPD.
Former HPD Chief Troy Finner previously said the suspended code was part of the CentralSquare system.
“The new system, as I understand, will alleviate that. It is my understanding in the previous administration and with the previous chief to eliminate the code that was out there of 260,000 suspended cases. If you eliminated that from the system, the system would crash, and certainly we don’t need a system to crash when it comes to law enforcement,” Houston City Councilmember At-Large, Twila Carter, said.
ABC13 contacted CentralSquare Technologies to inquire about its records system and the price of the $1.7 million contract extension.
A representative working on the company’s behalf released the following statement:
“CentralSquare remains committed to the City of Houston and supporting their public safety needs. However, we do not comment on inquiries about our customers’ contracts.”